What is the Ground state electron configuration of manganese?

Answer 1

There are two ways to write the electron configuration of manganese, and the correct way is not agreed on.

Some say it should be written 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d5, but others say the correct way to write it is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d5 4s2.

The disagreement is caused because the 4s sub-shell fills up before the 3d sub-shell. Some believe it is written in the order that the sub-shells fill up and others believe it is written according to the levels of the sub-shells.

The Aufbau principle supports the first way of writing it.

The reasoning for the second way of writing it is complicated, but all you need to know is that once we get to scandium, the energy of the 3d orbitals becomes slightly less than that of the 4s. Therefore in reality, for Sc through to Zn, the third are the lower energy orbitals - not the 4s. It's the same for the rest of the transition series as well.

Answer 2

The valence electron configuration of manganese is [Ar] 4s2 3d5.

Answer 3

Mn3+ has an electronic configuration of [Ar] 3d2 4s2

Answer 4

The ground-state electron configuration for a neutral atom of manganese is: 1s22s22p63s23p63d54s2 or [Ar]3d54s2

Answer 5

[Ar] 4s2-3d5