What is the electron configuration for the silicon atom?

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Answer 1 · 2018-01-08T08:52:07

$[N e] 3 s^{2} 3 p^{2}$ $[Ne]3s^2\3p^2$

Silicon has an atomic number of $14$ $14$ , so a neutral silicon atom would have $14$ $14$ electrons.

Therefore, it would have enough electrons to fill up till its $3 p$ $3p$ shell.

$1 s^{2} 2 s^{2} 2 p^{6} 3 s^{2} 3 p^{2}$ $1s^2\2s^2\2p^6\3s^2\3p^2$

We know that neon is a noble gas with an electron configuration of
$1 s^{2} 2 s^{2} 2 p^{6}$ $1s^2\2s^2\2p^6$ .

So, we can shorten silicon's electron configuration to a noble-gas configuration, which would be

$[N e] 3 s^{2} 3 p^{2}$ $[Ne]3s^2\3p^2$