{"id":209643,"date":"2025-04-29T08:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=209643"},"modified":"2025-04-29T08:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:32:10","slug":"what-is-the-ground-state-electron-configuration-of-the-ion-cu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/29\/what-is-the-ground-state-electron-configuration-of-the-ion-cu\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the ground-state electron configuration of the ion Cu+"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the ground-state electron configuration of the ion Cu+?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A) [Ar]4s2 3d8<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B) [Ar]4s1 3d10<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C) [Ar]3d10<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D) [Ar]4s2 3d10 4p1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is: <strong>C) [Ar] 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the <strong>ground-state electron configuration<\/strong> of <strong>Cu\u207a (Copper(I) ion)<\/strong>, we need to start by understanding the configuration of <strong>neutral copper (Cu)<\/strong> and how it changes upon losing an electron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Electron Configuration of Neutral Cu<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The atomic number of <strong>Copper (Cu)<\/strong> is <strong>29<\/strong>, which means it has 29 electrons in its neutral state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The expected configuration from the periodic table should follow the order of filling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u2076 3s\u00b2 3p\u2076 4s\u00b2 3d\u2079<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, copper is an <strong>exception<\/strong> to the expected order due to enhanced <strong>stability of a full d-subshell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the actual <strong>ground-state configuration of Cu is:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Ar] 4s\u00b9 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This configuration is energetically more favorable because a <strong>completely filled 3d subshell (3d\u00b9\u2070)<\/strong> is more stable than a 3d\u2079 configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Forming the Cu\u207a Ion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When copper loses <strong>one electron<\/strong> to become <strong>Cu\u207a<\/strong>, that electron is removed from the <strong>4s orbital first<\/strong>, not the 3d orbital. This is because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Even though the 4s orbital is filled before the 3d orbital, it is <strong>higher in energy<\/strong> once the 3d orbitals begin to fill.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thus, <strong>the 4s electron is removed first<\/strong> when ionizing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So, we remove <strong>one electron from the 4s\u00b9<\/strong> in the neutral atom <strong>[Ar] 4s\u00b9 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong>, leaving:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Ar] 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Eliminate Other Options<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A) [Ar] 4s\u00b2 3d\u2078<\/strong> \u2013 Incorrect, this is not a stable or expected configuration for Cu\u207a.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>B) [Ar] 4s\u00b9 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong> \u2013 This is the configuration of <strong>neutral Cu<\/strong>, not Cu\u207a.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>C) [Ar] 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong> \u2013 \u2705 Correct configuration for Cu\u207a.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>D) [Ar] 4s\u00b2 3d\u00b9\u2070 4p\u00b9<\/strong> \u2013 Incorrect; this would be for an element with atomic number 31 (Gallium).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cu\u207a<\/strong> has lost its 4s\u00b9 electron, resulting in a configuration of <strong>[Ar] 3d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong>. This is a <strong>full and stable d-subshell<\/strong>, making it the correct ground-state configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Would you like a similar explanation for Cu\u00b2\u207a?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the ground-state electron configuration of the ion Cu+? A) [Ar]4s2 3d8 B) [Ar]4s1 3d10 C) [Ar]3d10 D) [Ar]4s2 3d10 4p1 The correct answer and explanation is : The correct answer is: C) [Ar] 3d\u00b9\u2070 Explanation: To determine the ground-state electron configuration of Cu\u207a (Copper(I) ion), we need to start by understanding the configuration [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}