Question

What is the electron configuration of Ag?

Answer 1

Hint: The electronic configuration determines which element would combine with another element and in what ratio. The atomic number of silver atoms is 47. It will now be easy to obtain the electronic configuration of Ag.

Complete answer:
- The electronic configuration plays a major role in determining the chemical properties of the atoms such as valency, conductance, reactivity. It determines every single chemical property of an element.
- Ag is an element with the atomic number 47. It is a d-block element of group 11 and period 5. It is a transition metal.
- As it is d-block element, the general configuration is given as
$(n-1)d^{(1-10)}ns^{(0-2)}$
The electronic configuration of Silver would be
$1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{6}3d^{10}4s^{2}4p^{6}4d^{9}5s^{2}$
But, in this case, there is an exception. Silver’s 4d orbital will be completely filled which implies that only one electron will be present in 5s orbital. Thus, electronic configuration will be
$1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{6}3d^{10}4s^{2}4p^{6}4d^{10}5s^{1}$
Now, the electronic configuration of Krypton (Kr) is
$1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{6}3d^{10}4s^{2}4p^{6}$
Therefore, the shorthand electron configuration of Ag can be given by considering the corresponding noble gas as, noble gas shorthand electron configuration as
$[Kr] 4d^{10}5s^{1}$

Note:
As many of us think that silver atoms are present in ionic form then in this condition also number of electrons are equal to the atomic number of silver atom, but that concept is not right. This is because by the removal of electrons from the atom or by the acceptance of electrons from atoms or by the acceptance of electrons to the atom an ion will form.