What is the ground-state electron configuration of neon (Ne)?

• A. $1s{2}^{}2s{2}^{}2p{6}^{}3s{1}^{}$
• B. $1s{2}^{}2s{2}^{}3p{6}^{}$
• C. $1s{2}^{}2s{2}^{}2p{5}^{}$
• D. $1s{2}^{}2s{2}^{}2p{6}^{}$

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Identify the atomic number of neon (Ne), which tells you the total number of electrons. Neon has an atomic number of 10, so it has 10 electrons in its neutral state.
2. Step 2: Recall the order in which electron orbitals are filled according to the Aufbau principle: electrons fill orbitals starting from the lowest energy level to higher ones. The order begins with 1s, then 2s, then 2p, and so on.
3. Step 3: Fill the electrons into the orbitals following the order and the maximum number of electrons each orbital can hold: 1s can hold 2 electrons, 2s can hold 2 electrons, and 2p can hold 6 electrons.
4. Step 4: Distribute the 10 electrons of neon into the orbitals: 2 electrons in 1s, 2 electrons in 2s, and the remaining 6 electrons in 2p.
5. Step 5: Write the ground-state electron configuration by combining the filled orbitals with their electron counts, which results in \$1\,s^{2} 2\,s^{2} 2\,p^{6}$.