What is the electron configuration of an oxygen atom?

The electron configuration of an oxygen atom is accurately represented as 1s² 2s² 2p⁴. This is determined by noting that oxygen has an atomic number of 8, which means it has 8 electrons.

The electron configuration must account for these electrons, filling the available atomic orbitals in order of increasing energy levels. The first two electrons fill the 1s orbital, leading to 1s². The next two electrons then fill the 2s orbital, resulting in 2s². The remaining four electrons are placed in the 2p orbital, which can hold a maximum of six electrons. Since oxygen has four electrons in the 2p orbital, this leads to the configuration of 2p⁴.

This configuration reflects the arrangement of electrons in an atom, indicating that oxygen has a total of 8 electrons distributed across its orbitals as follows: 2 in the 1s, 2 in the 2s, and 4 in the 2p. This arrangement is critical for understanding the chemical properties of oxygen, including its reactivity and bonding behavior.