What orbitals are filled in noble gases?

Answer 1

He has the 1s orbital filled, which completes the first level. The rest of the noble gases have an outer shell with an octet of s2, p6 electrons.

The actual electronic configurations are

• Ne 1s2, 2s2, 2p6 completely filled levels 1 and 2
• Ar 1s2, 2s2, 2p6 3s2, 3p6 1 and 2 filled - but 3d orbitals empty
• Kr 1s2, 2s2, 2p6,3s2,3p6, 3d10 4s2 4p6 1, 2 & 3 filled 4d and 4f orbitals empty
• Xe 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6, 3d10, 4s2, 4p6, 4d10, 5s2, 5p6 1 , 2, 3 filled 4f empty and 5d, 5f 5g empty
• Rn 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6, 3d10, 4s2, 4p6, 4d10 4f14, 5s2, 5p6, 5d10, 6s2, 6p6 1 , 2, 3, 4 filled 5f and 5g empty 6d, 6f, 6g, 6h empty

The pattern is that the shell immediately below the outer octet is either full as in Ne, Ar, Kr or has 18 electrons s2, p6, d10 as in Xe and Rn

Answer 2

Noble gases have completely filled s and p orbitals. Helium has a filled 1s orbital, neon has filled 2s^2 and 2p^6 orbitals, argon has filled 3s^2 3p^6 orbitals, and so on.