{"id":248763,"date":"2025-07-08T18:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T18:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=248763"},"modified":"2025-07-08T18:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T18:03:14","slug":"which-electron-configuration-represents-an-atom-in-an-excited-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/08\/which-electron-configuration-represents-an-atom-in-an-excited-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Which electron configuration represents an atom in an excited state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Which electron configuration represents an atom in an excited state? ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9 ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p? 3s\u00b9 ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b3 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9 ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct electron configuration that represents an atom in an excited state is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an atom, electrons are normally arranged in the lowest possible energy levels, which is called the ground state<\/strong>. However, when an atom absorbs energy (such as from light or heat), some of its electrons can jump to higher energy levels, resulting in what is known as the excited state<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Ground state configuration<\/strong>: In the ground state, electrons fill the atomic orbitals starting with the lowest energy levels. The electron configuration for the ground state of an atom with 9 electrons (such as fluorine) would be 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u2075<\/strong>. In this configuration, all electrons are in the most stable arrangement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Excited state configuration<\/strong>: In an excited state, one or more electrons are promoted to higher energy levels. This could involve an electron moving from the 2p orbital to the 3s orbital, for example. This is what happens in the configuration 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9<\/strong>. Here, instead of having all three electrons in the 2p orbital (as would be the case in the ground state), one electron has been excited to the 3s orbital.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    In this configuration, the atom has absorbed energy, and the electron configuration no longer represents the most stable arrangement. This excited state is temporary, and the atom will typically return to the ground state by releasing the excess energy, often in the form of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The other configurations you provided are either incomplete or do not represent a typical excited state:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p? 3s\u00b9<\/strong> lacks the proper number of electrons to be a valid configuration for an atom in an excited state.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b3 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9<\/strong> is invalid because it suggests that the atom has more than the allowed number of electrons in the 2s orbital (which can hold a maximum of 2 electrons).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3<\/strong> represents a stable configuration (with all electrons in the lowest energy orbitals) and not an excited state.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Which electron configuration represents an atom in an excited state? ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9 ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p? 3s\u00b9 ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b3 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9 ? 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3 The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The correct electron configuration that represents an atom in an excited state is: 1s\u00b2 2s\u00b2 2p\u00b3 3s\u00b9 In an atom, […]<\/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-248763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248763","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=248763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}