Question

What is the correct general outer electronic configuration of group 13 elements?

Answer 1

Hint: The atomic number is equal to the number of electrons in any atom. The electronic configuration has the filling of these electrons into the orbital. The outer electronic configuration refers to the valence shell electronic configuration. It is general for the elements in the same group, only the number of shells increases.

Complete answer:
Electronic configuration of any element refers to the filling of the various atomic orbital or the sub shell of that atom with electrons according to the Aufbau principle. The elements in the same group have the same general electronic configuration. They only differ in the number of shells, as the number of shells increases down the group. The outer configuration is the configuration of the valence shell.
The elements of the group 13 are named as the boron family that consists of Boron, Aluminum, Gallium, Indium and Thallium. We can identify the general electronic configuration of the group 13 from the electronic configuration of boron as boron has 5 electrons so the configuration will be $1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^1$. The shell 2 is the outer shell that has 3 electrons, 2 electrons in s orbital and 1 electron in the p orbital, so the general outer configuration of the group will be $n{s}^{2}n{p}^1$, where n is the number of the shell.
So, the correct general outer electronic configuration of group 13 elements is $n{s}^{2}n{p}^1$.

Note:
The filling of electrons in various orbits is according to a principle of Aufbau that takes place from the lower energy level to the higher energy level. The filling takes place in s, p, d, and f subshells or orbital. These subshells are written along with the number of shells, like 1, 2, 3, etc. the number of shells increases down the group and the size of the atom also increases.