Question

What is `1s^(2)2s^(2)2p^(6)3s^1` the electron configuration for?

Answer 1

Sodium (Na)

Explanation:

The outer electrons are on the 3rd energy level sub-shell (due to the `3s^{1}` Thus we can deduce that the element is in the third period of the periodic table.

There are 1 electrons in total in the final sub-shell (adding all the powers of the 3'rd level)

This means it's in group 1.

From this we can deduce it being Na (Sodium)