How many electrons should we expect to see associated with the lowest energy peak in the photoelectron spectrum of the element Gallium ( Ga )?

Question

# of electrons?

Answer 1

Ga has the electron configuration of [Ar]4s²3d¹⁰4p¹

In a photoelectron spectrum, the peaks with the lowest energies correspond to the valence electrons, and those with the highest energy correspond to the core electrons.

Thus, for Ga, we'd expect ONE electron to be associated with the lowest energy peak. That would be the 4s1 valence electron. It would take the least amount of energy to liberate.