Gallium Electron Configuration:7 Easy Steps on How to Write!

Gallium is an element of Boron’s group that is group 13 in the periodic table. Let us briefly make a quick study on the description of this element below:

Gallium has atomic number of 31 which is found to be in the group in between Aluminium (Al) and Indium (In). In period 4 the element is found next to Zinc (Zn). The symbol the element is Ga.  A silvery blue appearance of the element is found in solid state.

The electron configuration of the element appears to be the notation of electron arrangement in the shells as well as orbitals of on Gallium atom. Let us discuss the electron configuration of Gallium throughput the article below:

How to write gallium electron configuration?

Aufbau principle, Pauli’s expansion rule and Hund’s rule are the three rules of writing electron configuration of atoms. In accordance with Aufbau principle, the systematic process of writing the configuration is given below:

  • Step 1: Writing the electron shell number
  • Gallium has 4 electron shells which are written as 1, 2, 3, 4
  • Step 2: Putting orbital notations after the number of electron shells
  • Gallium atom is consists of 3 orbitals such as ‘s’, ‘p’ and ‘d’
  • Step 3: Calculating the number of electron in orbitals
  • Gallium has each orbital filled with electrons as per the capacity of the orbitals except the last ‘p’ orbital
  • The electrons are written on the orbital notations as subscripts
  • Step 4: Identifying the ideal noble gas of Ga
  • Gallium follows the electron configuration of Argon
  • The electron configuration of gallium is written as [Ar] 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p1

Gallium electron configuration diagram

The electron configuration diagram of Gallium highlights the distribution of 31 electrons in the orbitals and electrons shells in the Gallium atom. The description of the diagram is given below:

  • In 1s orbital the atom has 2 electron as per the highest capacity of a s orbital
  • In 2s orbital it has 2 electrons
  • In 2p orbital the atom has 6 electron s as per the highest capacity of p orbital
  • In 3s orbital again it has 2 electrons
  • In 3p orbital it has 6 electrons
  • In 3d orbital Ga atom has 10 electron as per the highest capacity of d orbital
  • In 4s orbital it has 2 electron
  • In the last orbital that is 4p it has only 1 electron

The electron configuration is as follows:

gallium electron configuration
Aufbau principle of electron configuration for Gallium

Gallium electron configuration notation

The electron configuration notation of a gallium atom is

[Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p1 .

s, p and d are the notion of orbitals. Electron shells are denoted by general numbers and number of electrons is denoted by subscripts with orbital notations.  The above notation is displaying that 3d orbital has 10, 4s orbital has 2 and 4p orbital has 1 electron in gallium atom.

Gallium unabbreviated electron configuration

Unabbreviated electron configuration of gallium atom is 3d10 4s2 4p1.

Ground state gallium electron configuration

Ground state electron configuration of gallium atom is [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p1.

Excited state of Gallium electron configuration

Electron configuration of gallium atom in excited state is found to be [Ar] 3d10 4s1 4p2. In this state, one electron from filled 4s orbital jumps to the vacant p orbital of the atom.

Ground state Gallium orbital diagram

Ground state orbital diagram of gallium atom displayed the filled structure of the electron shells and the presence of nucleus in with full design of the atom.

The diagram is as follows:

gallium electron configuration
Gallium orbital diagram

Gallium condensed electron configuration

The condensed electron configuration of gallium atom is [10, 4, 1].

Gallium arsenide electron configuration

Electron configuration of Gallium arsenide refers to the electronic arrangement in the compound made of Ga+ and As ions. Therefore the election configuration of individuals ions are as follows:

  • Electron configuration of Ga+ ion is [Ar] 3d10 4s2
  • Electron configuration of As ion is [Ar] 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p4

Conclusion

Gallium atom is found to follow the stable configuration of Argon. That is why this noble gas is written before the whole configuration of the Ga atom. The filled stable configuration of Argon is noticed to influence the Gallium atom to achieve the same configuration.

Read more about the following electron configuration

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