{"id":221625,"date":"2025-05-29T20:48:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T20:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=221625"},"modified":"2025-05-29T20:48:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T20:48:26","slug":"write-the-electron-configuration-for-an-atom-of-tellurium-te-in-its-ground-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/29\/write-the-electron-configuration-for-an-atom-of-tellurium-te-in-its-ground-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Write the electron configuration for an atom of tellurium, Te, in its ground state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Write the electron configuration for an atom of tellurium, Te, in its ground state. Also draw an orbital diagram for the outermost 16 electrons in Te.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Electron Configuration and Orbital Diagram for Tellurium (Te)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ground-State Electron Configuration of Te (Atomic Number 52):<\/strong> Te:&nbsp;1s2&nbsp;2s2&nbsp;2p6&nbsp;3s2&nbsp;3p6&nbsp;4s2&nbsp;3d10&nbsp;4p6&nbsp;5s2&nbsp;4d10&nbsp;5p4\\boxed{\\text{Te: } 1s^2\\ 2s^2\\ 2p^6\\ 3s^2\\ 3p^6\\ 4s^2\\ 3d^{10}\\ 4p^6\\ 5s^2\\ 4d^{10}\\ 5p^4}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Orbital Diagram for the Outermost 16 Electrons in Tellurium:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We focus on the outermost 16 electrons, which are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>4p\u2076<\/strong> \u2192 6 electrons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>5s\u00b2<\/strong> \u2192 2 electrons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>4d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong> \u2192 10 electrons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>5p\u2074<\/strong> \u2192 4 electrons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes 22 electrons total, but since only the <strong>outermost 16<\/strong> are requested, we include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>4d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong> (10 electrons)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>5s\u00b2<\/strong> (2 electrons)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>5p\u2074<\/strong> (4 electrons)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Orbital Diagram:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>4d:  \u2191\u2193  \u2191\u2193  \u2191\u2193  \u2191\u2193  \u2191\u2193\n5s:  \u2191\u2193\n5p:  \u2191\u2193  \u2191   \u2191\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>(Arrows represent electrons: \u2191 = one electron with spin up, \u2193 = one with spin down)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Explanation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tellurium (Te), atomic number 52, is a metalloid found in group 16 of the periodic table, also known as the oxygen group or chalcogens. In its ground state, the atom has 52 electrons distributed across various energy levels and orbitals according to the <strong>Aufbau principle<\/strong>, <strong>Pauli Exclusion Principle<\/strong>, and <strong>Hund\u2019s Rule<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Aufbau principle<\/strong> states that electrons fill lower-energy orbitals first. Hence, the electron configuration starts from 1s and continues sequentially. Electrons fill the 1s through 4p subshells in a predictable order. Beyond that, the 5s orbital fills before the 4d, and then electrons continue into the 5p orbitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The configuration ends at <strong>5p\u2074<\/strong>, meaning the 5p subshell has four electrons, placing tellurium in group 16. According to <strong>Hund\u2019s Rule<\/strong>, within the 5p subshell, electrons occupy orbitals singly before pairing up. This leads to the 5p orbital diagram showing two unpaired electrons (\u2191 \u2191) in two of the three p orbitals, and one orbital fully occupied (\u2191\u2193).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The outermost 16 electrons are those most relevant to tellurium\u2019s chemical behavior. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>4d\u00b9\u2070<\/strong> subshell, which is fully filled,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>5s\u00b2<\/strong> subshell, also fully filled,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And the <strong>5p\u2074<\/strong> subshell, partially filled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The presence of four electrons in the 5p subshell gives tellurium its chemical properties and allows it to form -2 anions (Te\u00b2\u207b) by gaining two electrons to complete the octet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary, Te\u2019s electron configuration and orbital diagram reflect a stable arrangement in the inner shells and a chemically reactive outer shell, characteristic of group 16 elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/learnexams-banner4-116.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-221626\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Write the electron configuration for an atom of tellurium, Te, in its ground state. Also draw an orbital diagram for the outermost 16 electrons in Te. The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Electron Configuration and Orbital Diagram for Tellurium (Te) Ground-State Electron Configuration of Te (Atomic Number 52): Te:&nbsp;1s2&nbsp;2s2&nbsp;2p6&nbsp;3s2&nbsp;3p6&nbsp;4s2&nbsp;3d10&nbsp;4p6&nbsp;5s2&nbsp;4d10&nbsp;5p4\\boxed{\\text{Te: } 1s^2\\ 2s^2\\ 2p^6\\ 3s^2\\ 3p^6\\ [&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-221625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221625","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=221625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}