Video Transcript
The electronic configurations of
five elements are shown below. Which element is most likely a
metal?
Metal elements have related
physical properties, partly because they have similar electronic configurations. We need to determine which of the
electronic configurations below most likely represents a metal.
Metal atoms tend to have less than
four electrons in their outer shell. During a chemical reaction, metal
atoms tend to lose these outer-shell electrons and form positive ions.
Looking at the electronic
configurations, we can see that the M shell is the outermost occupied electron shell
in each of the atoms. The only atom represented that has
less than four electrons in the M shell is the atom shown in answer choice (A). Therefore, the element that is most
likely to be a metal has the electronic configuration shown in answer choice
(A).
