Question

What is the s,p,d,f configuration of barium?

Answer 1

Barium can be found in the 6th energy level (row) of the periodic table. It is also in the 2nd group (column) of the periodic table. The first two groups (columns) of the periodic table represent the 's' orbital group. This means that the s,p,d,f electron configuration for Barium must end with `6s^2`. The 6th row, s block, 2nd column.

The full electron (s,p,d,f) configuration would be:

`1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^10 4p^6 5s^2 4d^10 5p^6 6s^2`

However, to simplify this, noble gas or core notation can be used.
`1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^10 4p^6 5s^2 4d^10 5p^6` represents the noble gas xenon. In noble gas notation, you use the noble gas to represent that portion of the electron configuration.

We can therefore write the configuration of barium as:

`[Xe} 6s^2`

I hope this was helpful.
SMARTERTEACHER