What is the maximum number of electrons that can occupy the third (n=3) shell?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 6
d) 8
e) 18

E) 18

Explanation:

The maximum number of electrons that can occupy the third (n=3) shell is 18

Option E

Explanation:

Every shell can only have a certain number of electron: the first shell have up to 2 electrons, the second have up to 8 (2 + 6) electrons, up to eighteen electron for third shell like (2+6+10), etc. The formula to calculate is,

For nth shell, it can generally contain up to electrons.

We make use of the formula where “n” is the number of the shell, to find the number of electrons a shell occupies.

So, if n=3 then using the value in the formula, we have electrons . Hence, third shell holds up to 18 electrons.