Question

Or each set of elements represented in this periodic table outline, identify the principal quantum number, n , and the azimuthal quantum number, ℓ , for the highest energy electrons in an atom of one of those elements.

Answer 1

The answer is potassium. It would be 4, and for neon would be 2. Just total which row of the periodic table you are on. The "L" tells you whether the highest-energy electron is in an "s" orbital (L=0) or a "p" orbital (L=1) or a "d" orbital (L=2) or an "f" orbital (L=3). The way in which these orbitals are filled is: for each of the first three rows (up to argon), two electrons in the "s" orbital are filled first, then 6 electrons in the "p"orbitals. The row where the potassium also starts with filling the "s" orbital at the new "n" level (4) but then goes back to satisfying up the "d" orbitals of n=3 before it seals up the "p"s for n=4.