Question

A carbon atom has six electrons. How are these electrons shared in its atomic orbital shells?

Answer 1

The carbon atom has  2 electrons in its inner shell and 4 electrons in the outer shell.

Carbon is a chemical element  with atomic number 6,  and the symbol C. The word carbon comes from a Latin word carbo, which means coal.

Because of its willingness to form compounds more than any other element, it forms a larger number of compounds than any other element. It easily bonds with non-metallic elements and du to this, it is often termed as the building block of life.

Even though it forms many different compounds, relatively it is a non-reactive element

Answer 2

Answer:

The correct answer is B: outer shell contains 4 electrons.

Explanation:

Carbon atomic number is 6. Its electronic configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p2.

As you can see from the electronic configuration the inner shell has 2 electrons and the outer shell with principal quantum number 2 has 4 electrons. So the correct answer is B.