Question

What is the electron configuration for silicon, z=14?

Answer 1

`1s^(2)2s^(2)2p^(6)3s^(2)3p^(2)`

Explanation:

We follow the `"aufbau principle"`......have I got 14 electrons?

And we use the atomic number to give us the total number of electrons........

It may be worthwhile to sit down with a text and simply write out the electronic configuration of the first 20 or so elements. Why so? Well this configuration determines the observed chemistry of the given element, and chemical bonds result from the sharing and transfer of electrons....which is why these electron-counting schemes are emphasized.