Sciencers!!! (is that a word)?

Question

If lead has an electron configuration of 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 4. would that mean lead has 32 protons...or am I doing this wrong? thanks!

So...is it 64?

Answer 1

You're doing it wrong. The electron configuration tells you the total number of electrons in the atom. The number of protons has to be equal to the number of electrons. SO, you need to add up all of the electrons in all of the shells to find out the number of protons.