What is the electron configuration of the alkali metal potassium (K)?

What is the electron configuration of the alkali metal potassium (K)?

Step 1: Identify the atomic number of potassium (K), which is 19.
Step 2: Understand that the electron configuration shows how electrons are arranged in an atom.
Step 3: Start filling the electron shells according to the Aufbau principle, which states that electrons fill the lowest energy levels first.
Step 4: Fill the 1st shell (1s) with 2 electrons: 1s².
Step 5: Fill the 2nd shell (2s and 2p) with 8 electrons: 2s² 2p⁶.
Step 6: Now, we have used 10 electrons (2 from 1s and 8 from 2s and 2p).
Step 7: The remaining 9 electrons will go into the 3rd shell, starting with 3s.
Step 8: Fill the 3s subshell with 1 electron: 3s¹.
Step 9: Combine all the filled subshells to get the complete electron configuration: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s¹.

No concepts available.