The quantity of electrons that are not paired within the electron configuration of an iron atom is four. This characteristic arises from the arrangement of electrons in iron’s 3d orbitals, following Hund’s rule which dictates the filling of orbitals to maximize spin multiplicity, leading to the unpaired state.
The number of unpaired electrons dictates many of iron’s chemical and magnetic properties. The presence of unpaired electrons contributes to iron’s paramagnetism, meaning it is attracted to external magnetic fields. Historically, this characteristic is exploited in various industrial applications such as the creation of magnetic storage devices and catalysts.