What Principles Determine Carbon's Ground State Electron Configuration?

[DDS]

Which principle or rule must be used to determine the correct electronic configuration for carbon in its ground state?
a.Aufbau Principle
b. Hund's Rule
c. Pauli Exclusion Principle
d. (A) and (B) only
e. All three

I know for a fact that Aufbau's and Hunds rule deal with ground state configuration i just don't know if you consider Paulis rule, which says that no two electrons can have the same 4 quantum numbers, when you are conforming an electron to its ground state?

Can any help me, my answer as of know is D but I am second guessing myself with E?

 

[Diane_]

The Pauli Exclusion Principle is the reason why all of the electrons in any atom don't just collapse to the first orbital. If they did, they'd all have identical quantum numbers.

Does that help?

 

[quicknote]

The correct answer is E. All three principles - Aufbau Principle, Hund's Rule, and Pauli Exclusion Principle - must be used to determine the correct electronic configuration for carbon in its ground state. Each principle plays a significant role in determining the arrangement of electrons in an atom's energy levels, and all three are necessary to accurately determine the ground state configuration of any element. The Aufbau Principle states that electrons will fill the lowest energy levels first before moving to higher energy levels. Hund's Rule states that electrons will occupy orbitals of the same energy level singly before pairing up. And the Pauli Exclusion Principle states that no two electrons can have the same set of quantum numbers, meaning they must have opposite spins if they occupy the same orbital. Therefore, all three principles must be considered when determining the ground state electron configuration for carbon.