An atom of silicon has 14 electrons. of these 14 electrons, how many are unpaired

Silicon's electron configuration is 1s2, 2s2, 2p2

We can see that there are 3 sub-shells in the p orbital, and two electrons can occupy each shell. However, electrons do not just pair up in these shells unless each sub-shell has an electron. There are 3 sub-shells in the p level, so the 2 electrons in the p level are free to be in different sub-shells.

To sum it up, Silicon has 2 unpaired electrons.

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