To determine the ground state configuration of an atom with an atomic mass number of 37 and 20 neutrons, we need to find the number of protons and electrons in the atom.
The atomic mass number (A) represents the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom. Since the atomic mass number is given as 37 and the number of neutrons is given as 20, we can deduce that the number of protons is:
Number of protons (Z) = Atomic mass number (A) - Number of neutrons
Z = 37 - 20 = 17
Therefore, the atom in question has 17 protons.
In a neutral atom, the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons. Therefore, this atom also has 17 electrons.
Now, let's determine the ground state configuration of this atom using the periodic table.
The atomic number of an element represents the number of protons in an atom, and it determines the element's position in the periodic table. Since the number of protons is 17, we can identify the element as chlorine (Cl).
The electron configuration of chlorine (Cl) is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^5.
So, the ground state configuration of the atom with an atomic mass number of 37 and 20 neutrons is:
1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^5