Question

From the symbol ${}_{16}{}^{32}\mathrm{S}$ give :

(c) Electronic configuration of sulphur.

Answer 1

Electronic configuration:

1. The distribution of electrons in various energy levels or shells in an atom of the element is known as the electronic configuration.
2. The energy levels are $\mathrm{K},\mathrm{L},\mathrm{M},\mathrm{N}$ and so on.
3. The $\mathrm{K}$ shell can hold maximum of $2$ electrons, $\mathrm{L}$ shell can hold maximum of $8$ electrons and $\mathrm{M}$ shell can hold maximum of $18$ electrons

Atomic number of Sulphur:

1. The general representation of an element is ${}_{\mathrm{Z}}{}^{\mathrm{A}}\mathrm{X}$, where $\mathrm{X}$ is the chemical symbol of an element, $\mathrm{A}$ is the mass number and $\mathrm{Z}$ is the atomic number.
2. Comparing the symbol ${}_{16}{}^{32}\mathrm{S}$ with ${}_{\mathrm{Z}}{}^{\mathrm{A}}\mathrm{X}$, $\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{S}$ i.e. Sulphur, $\mathrm{A}=32$ and $\mathrm{Z}=16$.
3. Thus, the atomic number of Sulphur is $16$.

Electronic configuration of sulphur:

1. As the atomic number of Sulphur is $16$, the number of electrons in Sulphur is $16$.
2. The $\mathrm{K}$ shell contains $2$ electrons, $\mathrm{L}$ shell contains $8$ electrons and $\mathrm{M}$ shell contains remaining $6$ electrons.
3. Thus, the electronic configuration is $(2,8,6)$.

Thus, from the symbol ${}_{16}{}^{32}\mathrm{S}$, the electronic configuration of Sulphur is $(2,8,6)$.