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  • Electron Orbitals: Which Element Shares Sodium's Configuration?
    Here's how to figure this out:

    * Sodium (Na) has 11 electrons.

    * Electron orbitals fill in a specific order. The order is: 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d, 4p, and so on.

    * Sodium's electron configuration: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s¹

    * Sodium has 3 occupied electron shells: 1s, 2s, 2p, and 3s.

    Therefore, any element with 3 occupied electron shells will have the same number of electron orbitals as Sodium.

    Here are a few examples:

    * Magnesium (Mg): 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s²

    * Aluminum (Al): 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p¹

    * Silicon (Si): 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p²

    Important Note: While these elements have the same number of *occupied* shells, they have different numbers of *total* orbitals due to the increasing number of electrons and the filling of different sublevels.

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