Valence Electron - Chemical Reactions

Chemical Reactions

The number of electrons in an atom's outermost valence shell governs its bonding behavior. Therefore, elements whose atoms can have the same number of valence electrons are grouped together in the periodic table of the elements. As a general rule, a main group element (except hydrogen or helium) tends to react to form a closed shell, corresponding to the following electron configuration: s2p6. This tendency is called the octet rule, because the bonded atoms shares eight valence electrons.

The most reactive kind of metallic element is an alkali metal of group 1 (e.g., sodium or potassium); this is because such an atom has only a single valence electron; during the formation of an ionic bond which provides the necessary ionization energy, this one valence electron is easily lost to form a positive ion (cation) with a closed shell (e.g., Na+ or K+). An alkaline earth metal of Group 2 (e.g., magnesium) is somewhat less reactive, because each atom must lose two valence electrons to form a positive ion with a closed shell (e.g., Mg2+).

Within each group (each periodic table column) of metals, reactivity increases with each lower row of the table (from a light element to a heavier element), because a heavier element has more electron shells than a lighter element; a heavier element's valence electrons exist at higher principal quantum numbers (they are farther away from the nucleus of the atom, and are thus at higher potential energies, which means they are less tightly bound).

A nonmetal atom tends to attract additional valence electrons to attain a full valence shell; this can be achieved one of two ways: An atom can either share electrons with a neighboring atom (a covalent bond), or it can remove electrons from another atom (an ionic bond). The most reactive kind of nonmetal element is a halogen (e.g., fluorine (F) or chlorine (Cl)). Such an atom has the following electron configuration: s2p5; this requires only one additional valence electron to form a closed shell. To form an ionic bond, a halogen atom can remove an electron from another atom in order to form an anion (e.g., F-, Cl-, etc.). To form a covalent bond, one electron from the halogen and one electron from another atom form a shared pair (e.g., in the molecule H-F, the line represents a shared pair of valence electrons, one from H and one from F).

Within each group of nonmetals, reactivity decreases with each lower rows of the table (from a light element to a heavy element) in the periodic table, because the valence electrons are at progressively higher energies and thus progressively less tightly bound. In fact, oxygen (the lightest element in group 16) is the most reactive nonmetal after fluorine, even though it is not a halogen, because the the valence shell of a halogen is at a higher principal quantum number.

In these simple cases where the octet rule is obeyed, the valence of an atom equals the number of electrons gained, lost, or shared in order to form the stable octet. However there are also many molecules which are exceptions, and for which the valence is less clearly defined.