The 79th element of the periodic table is gold. The element of group-11 is gold and its symbol is ‘Au’. Gold is a d-block element. Therefore, the valence electrons of gold are determined differently.

What are the valence electrons of gold?

The valence electrons are the total number of electrons in the last orbit(shell). The total number of electrons in the last shell after the electron configuration of gold is called the valence electrons of gold.

The last shell of gold has an electron. Therefore, the valence electrons of gold are one. The valence electrons determine the properties of the element and participate in the formation of bonds.

How do you calculate the number of valence electrons in a gold atom?

The valence electrons have to be determined by following a few steps. The electron configuration is one of them. It is not possible to determine the valence electrons without electron configuration.

Knowing the electron configuration in the right way, it is very easy to determine the valence electrons of all the elements.

The valence electrons of the transition element cannot be determined according to Bohr’s atomic model. Because the valence electrons of the transition elements are located in the inner shell.

However, the valence electron of the transition element can be easily determined according to the Aufbau principle. Now we will learn how to determine the valence electron of gold.

Step-1: Determining the total number of electrons in gold

The elements in the periodic table are arranged according to their atomic number. Since rhodium is the 79th element of the periodic table, the atomic number of gold is 79.

We must always remember that the atomic number and the number of protons of an element are equal. Therefore, a gold atom contains seventy-nine protons.

We must also remember that the number of protons and electrons in an element is equal. Therefore, a gold atom contains seventy nine electrons in its orbits.

Step-2: Need to do electron configuration of gold

Step-2 is very important. In this step, the electrons of gold have to be arranged. We know that gold atoms have a total of seventy-nine electrons.

gold electron configuration — Gold electron configuration

The full electron configuration of gold is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p⁶ 4d¹⁰ 4f¹⁴ 5s² 5p⁶ 5d¹⁰ 6s¹. Here the valence electron configuration of gold is [Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d¹⁰ 6s¹.

Step-3: Determine the valence shell and calculate the total electrons

The third step is to diagnose the valence shell. The last shell after the electron configuration is called the valence shell. The total number of electrons in a valence shell is called valence electrons.

For the transition element, the valence electrons have to be determined by adding the total electrons of the d-orbital to the electron in the last shell of the atom. The last shell of gold has an electron and the d-orbital has a total of ten electrons.

Here, the d-orbital is filled with ten electrons and there is an electron at the last energy shell. Therefore, the valence electrons of gold are one.