Question

What is the electron configuration of salt?

Answer 1

The distribution of electrons in an element's atomic orbitals is described by its electron configuration. Atomic electron configurations follow a standard nomenclature in which all electron-containing atomic subshells are arranged in a sequence (with the number of electrons they possess indicated in superscript).

Complete answer:
Chemists can use the octet rule to forecast electron placement around the nucleus (electron orbitals), identify electrons added or lost during chemical processes, and determine the chemical reactivity of atoms depending on their electron configuration. When sketching Lewis dot structures and electron configurations, the octet rule is employed.
Salt is a mineral made mostly of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical component that belongs to the broader family of salts; rock salt or halite is salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral. Seawater contains a large amount of salt. The open ocean has a salinity of 3.5 percent and roughly 35 grammes of solids per litre of sea water. Salt is necessary for life in general, and one of the most basic human tastes is saltiness. Salt is one of the most ancient and widely used culinary spices, and salting is an essential food preservation strategy.
The electron configurations of sodium and chloride ions, which make up table salt (NaCl), are instructive in understanding the octet rule.
With an electron configuration of $1{{s}^{2}}2{{s}^{2}}2{{p}^{6}}3{{s}^{1}}$, sodium (Na) loses its outermost 3s electron, resulting in an electron configuration of $1{{s}^{~2}}2{{s}^{2~}}2{{p}^{6}}$ for the $N{{a}^{+}}$ion. Neon, a noble gas, has the same electron arrangement (i.e., highly stable and relatively nonreactive).
On the other hand, chlorine (Cl) has an electron configuration of $1{{s}^{2}}2{{s}^{2}}2{{p}^{6}}3{{s}^{2}}3{{p}^{5}}$. To fill its outermost third shell with eight electrons, chlorine requires one electron. When Chlorine accepts an electron from Sodium, the electron configuration of the $C{{l}^{-}}$ ion changes to $1{{s}^{2}}2{{s}^{2}}2{{p}^{6}}3{{s}^{2}}3{{p}^{6}}$ , which is the same as Argon, the closest noble gas.

Note:
The octet rule is applicable to representative metals (Groups IA, IIA) and nonmetals in general, but not to transition, inner-transition, or post-transition elements. These elements have filled half-full or filled orbitals in the d or f subshell orbitals to increase their stability. The octet rule, on the other hand, does not properly anticipate all molecule and compound electron configurations. Not all nonmetals, nor all metals, can form octet-rule-compliant compounds. As a result, when forecasting the electron configurations of molecules and compounds, the octet rule must be utilised with caution. Some atoms, for example, defy the octet rule and have more than four electron pairs around them.