Statement I: Fe³⁺ is more stable than Fe²⁺

Statement II: Fe³⁺ ion has more number of unpaired electrons than Fe²⁺

Statement I and Statement II are true and statement II is not correct explanation of statement I

The correct answer is option 2 — both statements are true, but Statement II is NOT the correct explanation of Statement I.

Statement I: Fe³⁺ is more stable than Fe²⁺ → True
Fe³⁺ has a half-filled 3d⁵ configuration, which gives extra stability due to symmetry and exchange energy.

Statement II: Fe³⁺ has more unpaired electrons than Fe²⁺ → True
Fe³⁺ → 3d⁵ → 5 unpaired electrons
Fe²⁺ → 3d⁶ → 4 unpaired electrons

But the stability is NOT because of “more unpaired electrons” directly. It is specifically due to the half-filled configuration (3d⁵), which is a special case of stability.
Having more unpaired electrons is just a result, not the reason.

So,Statement II is true, but it does not correctly explain the stability in Statement I.