Download Article Show Download Article In chemistry, valence electrons are the electrons that are located in the outermost electron shell of an element. Knowing how to find the number of valence electrons in a particular atom is an important skill for chemists because this information determines the kinds of chemical bonds that it can form and, therefore, the element's reactivity. Luckily, all you need to find an element's valence electrons is a standard periodic table of the elements. Non-Transition Metals
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About This ArticleArticle SummaryX To find valence electrons using a period table, first see if your atom is a transitional metal, which are the elements in the middle rectangle of the table. If the atom is outside this block, locate its group number along the top of the table. The ones digit in the group number is the number of valence electrons. To solve without a periodic table, find the electron configuration of the element and count the electrons into 1 group of 2, and then into shells of 8. The number in the last group is the amount of valence electrons. Read on for in-depth explanations and examples. Did this summary help you? Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 2,497,727 times. Did this article help you?How do I find valence electrons?For neutral atoms, the number of valence electrons is equal to the atom's main group number. The main group number for an element can be found from its column on the periodic table. For example, carbon is in group 4 and has 4 valence electrons. Oxygen is in group 6 and has 6 valence electrons.
How many valence electrons does beryllium have?Beryllium has two valence electrons.
How many valence electrons does group 14 have?The number of valence electrons. How many valence electrons does group 7 have?The Group 7A elements have seven valence electrons in their highest-energy orbitals (ns2np5). This is one electron away from having a full octet of eight electrons, so these elements tend to form anions having -1 charges, known as halides: fluoride, F-; chloride, Cl-, bromide, Br-, and iodide, I-.
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