Which of these species have the most no. of unpaired electrons; B, Ne, P, Sc, Mn, Se, Zr, Ru.?

Question

additional: Cd, I, W, Pb, Ce, Ho, S+, S or S-? Show how you arrived at your answer.

Answer 1

we can look the electronic config of each up on wikipedia, or look @ the periodic chart to see how far through filling the set of orbitals  it happens to be in section of the chart it is in

B, is a 2P1 that's 1 unpaired e

Ne, is a 2P6 that's no unpaired

P, is a 3P3, that's  3 unpaired

Sc, is a 3D1 that's 1 unpaired

Mn, is a 3D5 that's 5 unpaired

Se,  is a 4P4, that's 2 unpaired

Zr, is a 4D2, that's 2 unpaired

Ru, is a 4D6, that's 4 unpaired

your first answer is ; Mn, is a 3D5 that's 5 unpaired

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additional:

Cd,  is a 4D10, that's no unpaired

I,  is a 5P5 that's 1 unpaired

W, is a 5D4 that's 4 unpaired

Pb, is a 6P2 that's 2 unpaired

Ce, is a 4F1 that's 1 unpaired

Ho, is a 4F11, that's 3 unpaired

S+, was a 3P4, now it's a 3P3 that's 3 unpaired

S, is  3P4, that's 2 unpaired

S- is a 3P5 that's 1 unpaired

your answer is : W, is a 5D4 that's 4 unpaired