The ground state electronic configuration of neutral titanium atom is

Options

A. `[Ar]4s^(2)4p^(2)`
B. `[Ar]3d^(2)4s^(2)`
C. `[Ar]4s^(2)p_(x)^(1)p_(y)^(1)`
D. `[Ar]3d^(5)`

Explanation

To determine the ground state electronic configuration of a neutral titanium atom, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the atomic number of titanium
The atomic number of titanium (Ti) is 22. This means that a neutral titanium atom has 22 electrons.

**Hint:** The atomic number of an element corresponds to the number of protons and, in a neutral atom, also the number of electrons.

### Step 2: Fill the electron shells according to the Aufbau principle
According to the Aufbau principle, electrons fill atomic orbitals in order of increasing energy levels. The order of filling is as follows:
1. 1s
2. 2s
3. 2p
4. 3s
5. 3p
6. 4s
7. 3d
8. 4p

**Hint:** Remember the order of filling orbitals, which can be remembered using the diagonal rule.

### Step 3: Count the electrons in each shell
1. The 1s orbital can hold 2 electrons: **1s²**
2. The 2s orbital can hold 2 electrons: **2s²**
3. The 2p orbital can hold 6 electrons: **2p⁶**
4. The 3s orbital can hold 2 electrons: **3s²**
5. The 3p orbital can hold 6 electrons: **3p⁶**
6. The 4s orbital can hold 2 electrons: **4s²**
7. The 3d orbital can hold up to 10 electrons, but we will only fill it with the remaining electrons.

**Hint:** Keep track of the total number of electrons as you fill each orbital.

### Step 4: Calculate the total electrons filled so far
After filling the 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, and 3p orbitals, we have:
- 1s² + 2s² + 2p⁶ + 3s² + 3p⁶ = 2 + 2 + 6 + 2 + 6 = 18 electrons.

This leaves us with 22 - 18 = 4 electrons to place in the 4s and 3d orbitals.

**Hint:** Always ensure that the total number of electrons matches the atomic number.

### Step 5: Fill the 4s and 3d orbitals
- The next two electrons will fill the 4s orbital: **4s²**.
- The remaining 2 electrons will go into the 3d orbital: **3d²**.

### Step 6: Write the complete electron configuration
Combining all the filled orbitals, the ground state electronic configuration of a neutral titanium atom is:
\[ \text{Ti: } [\text{Ar}] 3d² 4s² \]

**Final Answer:** The ground state electronic configuration of neutral titanium atom is \([ \text{Ar} ] 3d² 4s²\).