Would the electron configuration of Ga+3 be 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^8, and it's noble gas electron configuration would be [Ar] 4s^2 3d^8?
No. Ga is atomic number 31 The electron configuration for the neutral element is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p1 = 31 So you remove the last three electrons in the outside shell to make Ga^3+. That will be removing 4s2 and 4p1.
[Ar] 3d10 = Ga^3+
Yes, I KNOW that 4s2 fills BEFORE 3d fills. BUT the 4s shell still is the outside shell and when making the ion it's the 4s and 4p electrons that come off. That is true for Cu^+ , Cu^2+, Zn^2+, Ga^3+ etc. After the 4s shell is filled to make it 4s2, at that point the 3d orbitals are lower in energy than the 4s so making ions is done by removing the 4s electrons first.
To determine the electron configuration of Ga+3, we need to first find the atomic number of gallium (Ga), which is 31.
The electron configuration represents the distribution of electrons in various energy levels and orbitals within an atom or ion.
For Ga (neutral gallium), the electron configuration is:
1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^10 4p^1
Now, let's determine the electron configuration for Ga+3 (gallium ion with a 3+ charge). When an atom loses electrons to form a cation, it loses them from the highest energy level occupied. In this case, the highest energy level occupied is the 4th energy level (n=4).
Since Ga+3 has a 3+ charge, it means it has lost 3 electrons. So we can remove 3 electrons from the neutral Ga configuration:
1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^10 4p^1
- 3 electrons
This gives us the electron configuration of Ga+3:
1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 3d^10
Now, to write the noble gas electron configuration of Ga+3, we use the electron configuration of the noble gas that comes before gallium in the periodic table, which is argon (Ar). The noble gas configuration means we represent the noble gas in brackets followed by the remaining electron configuration.
Since argon (Ar) has the electron configuration 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6, we can write the noble gas electron configuration of Ga+3 as:
[Ar] 3d^10