To determine whether the electron configuration provided for Potassium (K) is written in longhand notation or noble-gas notation, let's consider the given electron configuration and compare it to the characteristics of each notation type.
Potassium (K)
Given electron configuration: [tex]\(1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^1\)[/tex]
Longhand Notation:
- Longhand notation lists out all the electrons in each shell and subshell sequentially starting from the first energy level (1s), going up through higher energy levels and subshells until all electrons are accounted for.
- This notation does not use any shortcuts and explicitly shows the distribution of electrons in each subshell.
Noble-Gas Notation:
- Noble-gas notation, also known as shorthand notation, uses the electron configuration of the nearest preceding noble gas to abbreviate part of the electron configuration.
- For Potassium (K), the preceding noble gas is Argon (Ar), which has the electron configuration [tex]\([Ar] = 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6\)[/tex].
- Noble-gas notation would simplify Potassium's electron configuration to: [tex]\([Ar] 4s^1\)[/tex].
Now, examining the given notation:
- The given electron configuration [tex]\(1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^1\)[/tex] starts from 1s and lists out each subshell sequentially.
- It does not use the noble gas (Ar) to abbreviate the configuration.
Conclusion:
- Since the given electron configuration lists out all electron subshells starting from 1s up to 4s^1 without any abbreviation, it is longhand notation.
