What is more excited, an electron configuration that has two partially filled rings, or a halogen that is one proton away from being a noble gas (stable

Answer 1

This is a strangely worded question. An atom in the excited state has electrons that are not in their lowest possible energy state. So, a halogen as describe is not really in the excited state. An atom with two partially filled an energy levels or rings could be a transition element (again not excited), but could also be an element in the excited state with an electron(s) boosted up to a higher energy state.

But halogens are so reactive that they are always found in compounds or as diatomic elements. So, a single atom of a halogen would be highly reactive, where as some transition metals (such as copper and gold) are not nearly as reactive.