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  • Electronic Configuration of Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂): A Detailed Explanation
    Calcium chloride (CaCl₂) is an ionic compound, so it doesn't have a single electronic configuration like a covalent molecule. Instead, we need to consider the electronic configurations of the individual ions:

    * Calcium (Ca): Calcium is in group 2, so it has 2 valence electrons. It loses these electrons to form a +2 cation.

    * Neutral Calcium: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s²

    * Calcium Ion (Ca²⁺): 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶

    * Chlorine (Cl): Chlorine is in group 17, so it has 7 valence electrons. It gains one electron to form a -1 anion.

    * Neutral Chlorine: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁵

    * Chloride Ion (Cl⁻): 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶

    Therefore, the electronic configurations for the ions in calcium chloride are:

    * Ca²⁺: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶

    * Cl⁻: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶

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