how do you find the electron configuration of zinc?

Question

aaronq · Answer

count how many electrons it has, then add them to the orbitals according to the AUFBAU principle

anonymous · Answer

@aaronq so how would u do that for zinc? can u show me?

aaronq · Answer

how many electrons does zinc have?

anonymous · Answer

zinc has 18 electrons

aaronq · Answer

okay so you can fit  

2 e in s orbitals
6 in p
10 in d

aaronq · Answer

ps zinc has more than 18 electrons.

anonymous · Answer

oh...um what does the s p nd d stand for?
so zinc doesnt have 18 electrons?

aaronq · Answer

s, p , d are orbitals.

and no it doesn't.

anonymous · Answer

oh ok
so do u know how much they have? how would i find out?

aaronq · Answer

look at a periodic table

aaronq · Answer

i'll do an example for you. say sodium, it has 11 electrons so: $1s^22s^22p^63s^1$

the superscripts represent the number of electrons
the big numbers represent the principal quantum number (n) of the orbital (you might know this as "level")
the letters s,p,d,f are orbitals (you might know them as "sublevels")

anonymous · Answer

so zinc would have 30 electrons because of the atomic number? 
the valence electrons would be 2 right?

aaronq · Answer

yeah, it has 30 because of the atomic number. 

hm if you're talking about the 4s electrons then yes.

anonymous · Answer

@aaronq  thank you so much

aaronq · Answer

no problem, dude.