Neon (Ne) is the chemical element with atomic number 10, indicating it has 10 protons in its nucleus. To determine the number of core and valence electrons in neon, we need to examine its electron configuration.
The electron configuration of neon is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶. Breaking it down, we find that the first energy level (n=1) contains 2 electrons in the 1s orbital. The second energy level (n=2) has 8 electrons, with 2 electrons in the 2s orbital and 6 electrons in the 2p orbitals.
The electrons in the filled inner energy levels (1s and 2s) are referred to as core electrons, while the electrons in the outermost energy level (2p) are called valence electrons.
Therefore, in the case of neon (Ne), it has 2 core electrons (from the 1s orbital) and 8 valence electrons (from the 2s and 2p orbitals).