higher energy. For example, the 1s subshell is filled before the 2s subshell is occupied. In this way, the electrons of an atom or ion form the most stable electron configuration possible. An example is the configuration 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s² 3d¹⁰ for the zinc atom, meaning that the 1s subshell has 2 electrons, the 2s subshell has 2 electrons, the 2p subshell has 6 electrons, and so on.

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