Question

What are the electron configurations for I and N3?

Answer 1

`I : [Kr] 5p^5` and `N^(3-) : 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6`

Explanation:

Electron configurations depend on the atomic number (total number of electrons in ground state) and oxidation state of an element.

Ground state Iodine has an atomic number of 53. Simply use this information to obtain its electronic configuration. `I : 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^10 4p^6 5s^2 4d^10 5p^5` or simply `I : [Kr] 5p^5`.

For elements not in ground state, oxidation states should be taken into consideration. Oxidation state with "n+" means removing n number of electrons from the total number of electrons of the ground state element. "n-" on the other hand means adding n number of electrons. Then simply use this to obtain its electronic configuration.

For example, `N^(3-)`. "3-" means adding 3 more electrons to its number of electrons in ground state. Nitrogen has 7 electrons in the ground state with electron configuration of `N : 1s^2 2s^2 2p^3`. Adding 3 more electrons would give us a total of 10 electrons. Therefore, `N^(3-) : 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6`