Imagine an arrangement of atomic orbitals in an alternate universe, in which the s subshell contains 2 orbitals instead of 1, and the p subshell contains 4 orbitals rather than 3. In which groups would you expect the anomalously low electron affinities to occur?
My thoughts are groups 3 and 7, due to the fact that they are "one away" from filling up their subshell. The groups would look like:
s: _ _ _ _ ... p: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
However, the answer says 4 and 8. Is there something I'm missing?
Edit: in terms of electron configuration blanks, it would be s: _ _ ... p: _ _ _ _