{"id":45899,"date":"2025-07-01T13:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=45899"},"modified":"2025-07-01T13:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:58:11","slug":"the-ground-state-electron-configuration-of-cobalt-atom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/the-ground-state-electron-configuration-of-cobalt-atom\/","title":{"rendered":"The ground state electron configuration of cobalt atom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ground state electron configuration of cobalt atom. How many paired electrons does this element have and is the atom paramagnetic or diamagnetic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The electron configuration of a cobalt (Co) atom in its ground state is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co:1s22s22p63s23p63d74s2\\text{Co}: 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 3d^7 4s^2Co:1s22s22p63s23p63d74s2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To break this down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6<\/strong>: These represent the first two energy levels, where all the orbitals are fully filled, meaning no unpaired electrons in these shells.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. 3d^7<\/strong>: This shows that there are seven electrons in the 3d orbital. The 3d orbitals can hold a maximum of 10 electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. 4s^2<\/strong>: This represents two electrons in the 4s orbital.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Now, to answer the specific questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Paired Electrons:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • In the 3d orbital<\/strong> (where there are 7 electrons), some electrons will be paired, while others will be unpaired.\n
        \n
      • The first five 3d orbitals (degenerate orbitals) will contain a maximum of 5 unpaired electrons, because electrons fill orbitals singly first to minimize repulsion (Hund\u2019s Rule).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • The remaining two electrons will pair up in two of the 3d orbitals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Therefore, in total, there are 2 paired electrons<\/strong> in the 3d orbital. Additionally, there are 2 paired electrons<\/strong> in the 4s orbital. So, cobalt has 4 paired electrons<\/strong> overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Paramagnetic or Diamagnetic:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Paramagnetism<\/strong> arises from the presence of unpaired electrons. Since cobalt has unpaired electrons in the 3d orbital (specifically, 3 unpaired electrons), it is paramagnetic<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Conclusion:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • Cobalt has 4 paired electrons<\/strong> in total.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • The atom is paramagnetic<\/strong>, as it has unpaired electrons in its 3d orbitals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The ground state electron configuration of cobalt atom. How many paired electrons does this element have and is the atom paramagnetic or diamagnetic? The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The electron configuration of a cobalt (Co) atom in its ground state is: Co:1s22s22p63s23p63d74s2\\text{Co}: 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 3d^7 4s^2Co:1s22s22p63s23p63d74s2 To break this down: Now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45901,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45899\/revisions\/45901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}