What is the electron configuration of zinc (Zn)?

The electron configuration of an element describes how electrons are distributed among the atomic orbitals. Zinc (Zn), which has an atomic number of 30, contains a total of 30 electrons.

To write its electron configuration, we start filling the orbitals according to the Aufbau principle, which states that electrons fill orbitals from the lowest energy level to the highest.

Zinc will follow the order of filling:

1. The 1s orbital can hold 2 electrons: 1s²
2. The 2s orbital fills next: 2s²
3. Then the 2p orbital: 2p⁶
4. Next, the 3s orbital: 3s²
5. The 3p orbital follows: 3p⁶
6. After reaching the 3p level, we move to the 4s level and fill it: 4s²
7. Finally, the 3d orbital is filled fully with 10 electrons: 3d¹⁰

When we sum these configurations, we observe:

• 1s² + 2s² + 2p⁶ + 3s² + 3p⁶ +