Determine the element of lowest atomic number that contains ten total p electrons in the ground state.

Each p orbital holds 6 electrons. So, that would mean that the electronic configuration would fill two of the lowest p orbitals, which are 2p and 3p orbitals. 2p orbital would hold 6, while 3p will hold the remaining 4, for a total of 10. The complete electronic configuration would be:

1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p⁴

The sum of the electrons is: 2+2+6+2+4 = 16. The element with atomic number 16 is Sulfur.

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