VALENCE ELECTRONS!

Anyway, today's blog is about predicting the number of valence electrons. (DIGRESSION: speaking of predictions, I predicted that Canucks would atleast get through round 1 and kill the Kings...but NOPE we lost.. so obviously predicting is just a bad thing to do... at least for me)

But since we have to PREDICT the number of valence electrons, this is how it's done.

First, let's start off with some important terms...

The core electrons are not valence electrons. They are the inner electrons that are in an atom and therefore don't do the action of bonding.

The outer core is where the valence electrons take place, excluding the filled d- and f- subshells.

Now when we talk about shells, we do not mean these shells:

An openshell is the shell that is not completely filled with the max. number of electrons and a closed shell is when the shell is completely filled with electrons to its maximum extent

•  Valence electrons are the outermost electrons in an open shell of an atom 
•  Valence electrons include all electrons EXCEPT those in the core and d & f subshells
•  AKA the reactable electrons, important part of chemical reactions and bonding                            
• ALL noble gases have ZERO valence electrons because they already have a stable octet meaning it has exactly 8 electrons on it.

Examples: 

Sulfur: [Ne] 3s2 3p4 ---> 6 valence electrons because you only count the ones in the outer core
Rubidium: [Kr] 5s1 ---> 1 valence elecrton
Neon: [Ne] ---> 0 valence electrons because it's a noble gas!! However, you can also say 8 electrons :-)
 
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