Answer
Understanding Unpaired Electrons in a Ground-State Chlorine Atom
To determine the number of unpaired electrons in a chlorine atom, follow these steps:
- Chlorine’s atomic number is 17, so it has 17 electrons in the ground state.
- Use the Aufbau principle to fill orbitals:
1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁵ - The 3p sublevel has 5 electrons, which means:
- Two 3p orbitals are fully paired (2 electrons each)
- One 3p orbital has 1 unpaired electron
✅ Therefore, a ground-state chlorine atom has 1 unpaired electron.