Question

What element is represented by the electron configuration `1s^2 2s^2 2p^2`?

Answer 1

carbon (C)

Explanation:

The electron configuration tells us that there are 6 electrons in the element.

The superscripts indicate how many electrons are present in the orbital. For instance, `1s^2` tells us that in the first energy level, in the s orbital, there are 2 electrons.

Since atoms are electrically neutral, the number of protons equals the number of electrons. So if you have an element with 6 electrons, it must have 6 protons.

The element with an atomic number of 6 is carbon.