What is the maximum number of electrons that can be filled in the K shell of an atom?

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

RRC Group D Previous Year Paper 73 (Held On: 12 Nov 2018 Shift 3)

Answer 1

The correct answer is 2.

Key Points

The maximum number of electrons that can be filled in the K shell of an atom is 2.
Each subshell is constrained to hold 4ℓ + 2 electrons at most, namely:
- Each s subshell holds at most 2 electrons
- Each p subshell holds at most 6 electrons
- Each d subshell holds at most 10 electrons
- Each f subshell holds at most 14 electrons
- Each g subshell holds at most 18 electrons
Therefore, the K shell, which contains only an s subshell, can hold up to 2 electrons.
- The L shell, which contains an s and a p, can hold up to 2 + 6 = 8 electrons, and so forth; in general, the nth shell can hold up to 2n² electrons.