How many unpaired electrons are in a mercury atom?

1 Answer
Pitufox27
Oct 17, 2016

The electronic configuration of mercury atom is: [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2. Therefore, the number of unpaired electrons is just zero.

Explanation:

The atomic number of mercury is Z = 80. Then, his electronic configuration is like xenon (Z = 54) plus 26 more electrons. You can complete sublevel 4f (14 electrons) and 5 d (10 electrons). This means there are 2 electrons for level 6. The sublevel 6s is complete and there are no orbital half-occupied. The number of unpaired electrons is 0.

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