Determine the electron configuration for the ground state of the noble gas with the atomic number 18.
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The atomic number 18 belongs to the element argon. To determine its electron configuration, we need to distribute the 18 electrons into the various energy levels (shells) and subshells.
The electron configuration of argon (Ar) is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶. This configuration represents 18 electrons filled up to the 3p subshell.
Alternatively, we can use the noble gas shorthand notation. Argon belongs to the noble gas family, specifically Group 18 (Group 8A or Group 0) of the periodic table. To use this notation, we can write the electron configuration of the noble gas in brackets, followed by the configuration of the remaining electrons.
So, the noble gas argon is denoted as [Ne], where [Ne] represents the electron configuration of neon: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶.
To complete the electron configuration for argon, we add on the configuration of the remaining electrons after the noble gas:
[Ne] 3s² 3p⁶.
Thus, the electron configuration for the ground state of the noble gas with atomic number 18 (argon) is [Ne] 3s² 3p⁶.