Question

How many electrons are in the outermost principal energy level (shell) of an atom of carbon in the ground state?

Answer 1

For carbon, `Z=6`, and thus its electronic configuration is................

Explanation:

`C:1s^(2)2s^(2)2p^2`. The valence shell of carbon (for which `n=2`) thus contains 4 electrons. Of course there are various hybridization schemes, but the fact remains that carbon commonly forms `CH_4` and `CR_4` molecules, i.e. utilizing 4 valence electrons.