How many unpaired electrons are in a boron atom?

1 Answer
Dwight
Feb 21, 2017

In the ground state, only one. But for bonding, all three valence electrons are used, and the atom acquires a slightly excited state.

Explanation:

The configuration of boron is 1s^2 2s^22p^1 which means only the p electron is unpaired.

However, when bonding in a compound, one of the 2s electrons is promoted into the 2p subshell, with the result that sp^2 hybrid orbitals are created, and three bonding orbitals exist.

Related questions
See all questions in Electron Configuration
Impact of this question
16766 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License