What is the electron configuration of a neutral carbon atom? (2022)

What is the electron configuration of a neutral carbon atom? (2022)

Step 1: Identify the atomic number of carbon, which is 6.
Step 2: Understand that the atomic number tells us the number of electrons in a neutral 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: The first shell (1s) can hold 2 electrons, so we fill it: 1s².
Step 5: The second shell has two subshells: 2s and 2p. Fill the 2s subshell next with 2 electrons: 2s².
Step 6: Now we have 4 electrons (2 in 1s and 2 in 2s), and we need to place 2 more electrons in the 2p subshell.
Step 7: Fill the 2p subshell with the remaining 2 electrons: 2p².
Step 8: Combine all the filled subshells to write the complete electron configuration: 1s² 2s² 2p².

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