Full configuration
1s¹
There's no noble gas before it, so the short and full forms are the same.
Orbital diagram
1s↑
Outer subshells only. Each box is an orbital; electrons fill singly first (Hund's rule), then pair up with opposite spins.
What the configuration tells you
Hydrogen has just one electron, in 1s. It can lose it (H⁺, as in acids) or gain one (H⁻, in metal hydrides like NaH).
Configuration of hydrogen ions
| Ion | Configuration | Unpaired | Moment (BM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| H⁺ | no electrons (a bare proton) | 0 | 0.00 |
| H⁻ | 1s² | 0 | 0.00 |
Moment is the spin-only magnetic moment μ = √(n(n + 2)) Bohr magnetons, where n is the number of unpaired electrons.
Nearby elements
Questions students ask
What is the electronic configuration of hydrogen?
1s¹. Hydrogen has atomic number 1.
How many electrons are in each shell of hydrogen?
1 (K, L, M, N… shells in order).
How many unpaired electrons does hydrogen have?
1 in the ground state, so hydrogen atoms are paramagnetic.
What is the electronic configuration of H⁺?
no electrons (a bare proton), with 0 unpaired electrons.