Atoms of two adjacent elements in the third period are in the ground state. an atom of element a has only s electrons in its valence shell. an atom of element b has at least one p electron in its valence shell. identify elements a and b.

Explanation:

A is Magnesium, B is Aluminium both are adjacent element and lie in third period.

Magnesium with atomic number of 12 consist two s electrons in it's valence shell in ground state whereas, Aluminium which has atomic number of 13 consist three electrons in it's valence shell in the ground state out of which two are s electrons and only one p electron.

you need to take a look at the periodic system in order to sort these elements into pairs that would most likely exhibit similar chemical properties. first, you need to find elements that are found in the same group (groups are vertical in the periodic system), and then to see whether they have the same valence number. if they meet these criteria, they will have similar properties.

the first pair: ne (neon) and kr (krypton), are noble gases found in group 8

the second pair: li (lithium) and k (potassium), found in group 1

the third pair: s (sulfur) and te (tellurium), found in group 6