What is the electron configuration for helium?

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What is the electron configuration for helium?

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Answer 1 · 2016-06-26T20:17:44

$He: 1 s^{2}$ $"He: " 1s^2$

Explanation:

Helium, $He$ $"He"$ , has an atomic number equal to $2$ $2$ , which means that it has $2$ $2$ protons in its nucleus.

A neutral helium atom will thus have $2$ $2$ electrons surrounding its nucleus. This means that the electron configuration for helium has to account for only $2$ $2$ electrons.

Both of these electrons are located on the first energy level, in the only subshell, and consequently only orbital available to them.

More specifically, both electrons will occupy the $1 s$ $1s$ orbital, the only orbital located in the $s$ $s$ subshell.

The electron configuration will thus be

$color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("He: " 1s^2)color(white)(a/a)|)))$

Here's how the electron configuration of helium looks compared with that of hydrogen, $"H"$ , which only has $1$ electron surrounding its nucleus.

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What is the electron configuration for helium?

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