How Many Valence Electrons Does Boron Trifluoride Have?
The total number of electrons in the last orbit of an element is called the valence electrons of that element.
Two or more elements combine to form compounds. The valence electrons of a compound are the sum of the total valence electrons of each element in that compound.
Boron trifluoride consists of two basic atoms. One is a boron atom and the other is a fluorine atom. The valence electrons of boron trifluoride are the sum of the total valence electrons of boron and fluorine in the compound BF3.
The boron trifluoride compound has a total of twenty-four electrons in the last orbits of boron and fluorine. Hence, the total number of valence electrons in boron trifluoride is twenty-four.
To determine the valence electrons of a compound, the number of valence electrons in each element of the compound must be known.
This article discusses in detail how to easily determine the valence electrons of boron trifluoride. Hopefully, after reading this article you will know more about this topic.
How to easily determine the number of valence electrons of BF3?
The symbol form of boron trifluoride is BF3. To determine the valence electrons of BF3, it is first necessary to know the valence electrons of the fluorine and boron atoms.
To determine the valence electrons of boron trifluoride we have to follow two steps. It is shown below:
Step 1: Determine the valence electrons of boron and fluorine atoms
The atomic number of boron is 5. So its total number of electrons is five. The electron configuration of boron shows that it has three electrons in its last orbit.
We already know that the electrons in the last orbit of an element are the valence electrons of that element. Therefore, the valence electrons of boron are three.
On the other hand, the atomic number of fluorine is 9. So its total number of electrons is nine. The electron configuration of fluorine shows that it has seven electrons in its last orbit. Therefore, the valence electrons of fluorine are seven.
Step 2: Determine the total number of valence electrons in the boron trifluoride compound
Boron trifluoride is a compound. It is composed of one boron atom and three fluorine atoms.
Therefore, adding the valence electrons of one boron atom and the valence electrons of three fluorine atoms can easily determine the valence electrons of boron trifluoride.
Mathematical Analysis:
BF3
= 3 + (7×3)
= 24
| Boron (B) | Fluorine (F) | Boron trifluoride (BF3) |
| 3 | 7 | 24 |
From the above mathematical analysis, we can see that the total number of electrons in the outermost orbit of boron trifluoride is twenty-four. Therefore, the valence electrons of boron trifluoride are twenty-four.
Why do you need to know the valence electrons of an element?
In addition to knowing the number of electrons of an element, it is also necessary to know the number of valence electrons of that element. The number of valence electrons of an element carries important properties of that element.
Many important properties of elements and compounds can be determined by valence electrons. Some important features are mentioned below:
- Determining the element’s position in the periodic table
- Determining the number of groups of elements in the periodic table
- Determining Valency
- Lewis dot formation
- Determination of the molecular structure of the compound
- Determination of bond pairs and non-pair electrons of compounds
Valence electrons are related to the characteristics of a compound. So we need to know the valence electrons of all the elements to determine the properties of compounds.