Question

Determine the number of unpaired electrons in ground state atoms of p and cl, respectively.

Answer 1

In their ground state, phosphorus (P) has three unpaired electrons and chlorine (Cl) has one unpaired electron, based on their electronic configurations.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks to determine the number of unpaired electrons in ground state atoms of phosphorus (P) and chlorine (Cl), respectively. To answer this, we need to look at the electronic configuration of each element.

Phosphorus (P)

Phosphorus has an atomic number of 15, which means it has 15 electrons. Its electronic configuration is 1s²2s²2p⁴3s²3p³. The 3p subshell has three unpaired electrons because it can hold up to six electrons, and in this case, only three of these positions are occupied.

Chlorine (Cl)

Chlorine has an atomic number of 17, indicating it has 17 electrons. Its electronic configuration is [Ne]3s²3p⁵. There is one unpaired electron in the 3p subshell, as it also has room for six electrons but only contains five.

Therefore, the number of unpaired electrons for phosphorus is three, and for chlorine, it is one.

Answer 2

Phosphorus has 3 unpaired electrons in its 3p orbitals, while chlorine has 1 unpaired electron in its 3p orbitals in their ground state electron configurations.

To determine the number of unpaired electrons in ground state atoms of phosphorus (P) and chlorine (Cl), respectively, we first need to find out the electron configuration of each element.

Phosphorus (atomic number 15) has the electron configuration 1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p³, which translates to 3 unpaired electrons in the 3p orbital since the first two p orbitals contain one electron each, and the third p orbital also has one electron.

Chlorine (atomic number 17) has the electron configuration 1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p⁵. Looking at the 3p orbitals, there are two orbitals that are fully filled with two electrons each, and one orbital that contains a single electron, giving us 1 unpaired electron in chlorine.

Therefore, phosphorus has 3 unpaired electrons and chlorine has 1 unpaired electron in their ground states.