What is the ground-state electron configuration for the vanadium 2+ ion?

• A. [Ar]3s²3d¹
• B. [Ar]4s²3d⁵
• C. [Ar]4s¹3d²
• D. [Ar]4s⁰3d³
• E. [Kr]5s⁰4d³

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Identify the atomic number of vanadium, which is 23. This means a neutral vanadium atom has 23 electrons.
2. Write the electron configuration for a neutral vanadium atom. The configuration is: [Ar]4s²3d³.
3. Understand that the 2+ charge on the vanadium ion indicates it has lost 2 electrons.
4. Remove electrons starting from the highest energy level. In this case, electrons are removed from the 4s orbital before the 3d orbital.
5. After removing 2 electrons from the 4s orbital, the electron configuration for the vanadium 2+ ion becomes: [Ar]3d³.