How do you write the noble-gas electron configuration for gold?

1 Answer
Al E.
Jul 6, 2017

You are correct, except it is an anomalous configuration (which most professors don't expect you to know entirely)!

Explanation:

Au: [Xe]6s24f145d9

is the expected configuration, however

Au: [Xe]6s14f145d10

is a more stable configuration that gold usually takes.

A full 5d subshell and a half full 6s subshell is preferable to the awkward "expected" configuration.

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