Question

Quick easy question. Medal to best answer. Thanks!

Which element would this be an electron notation for?

1s^2 2s^2 2p^2

Helium (HE)
Lithium (Li)
Beryllium (Be)
Carbon (C)

Answer 1

Carbon (C)

Answer 2

Thanks! Would you mind explaining why?

Answer 3

He has 2 electrons = 1s2
Li has 3 electrons = 1s2 2s1
Be has 4 electrons = 1s2 2s2
C has 6 electrons

electrons accommodate first in the lowest level of energy following the order
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p65s2 4d10 5p6 6s2 4f14 5d10 6p3

in 1s2 the first number indicate the principal level, the s letter indicate the sub level and the other number indicate how many electrons are in that sub level

an atom with n number of electrons will fill first the 1s with two electrons then the 2s with the second 2 electrons, then the 2p with a maximum of 6 electrons an so on until accommodate all his electron following the order that I show you before

for more you can check this website
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Electronic_Configurations

Answer 4

Thank you so much! Would you mind helping me with one more problem?

Answer 5

In what order do electrons fill orbitals within a sublevel?

Electrons don’t fill orbitals; protons and neutrons fill orbitals.
They double up first, then move on to the next orbital when the first is full.
They fill the orbitals in random order; you cannot predict exactly where they’ll be.
They spread out, waiting until each orbital has one electron before doubling up.

I know it is either 2 or 4 but I'm not sure.

Answer 6

it's "They spread out, waiting until each orbital has one electron before doubling up."