How to Find the Valence Electrons for Fluorine (F)?
Fluorine is the 9th element in the periodic table and the first element in group-17. Fluorine is a halogen element and its symbol is ‘F’. Fluorine participates in the formation of bonds through valence electrons.
What are the valence electrons of fluorine?
Fluorine is a non-metallic element. Fluorine is an element of group-17. The valence electron is the total number of electrons in the last orbit(shell).
The total number of electrons in the last shell after the electron configuration of fluorine is called the valence electrons of fluorine. 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 fluorine 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 electron without electron configuration.
Knowing the electron configuration in the right way, it is very easy to determine the valence electrons of all the elements.
However, valence electrons can be easily identified by arranging electrons according to the Bohr principle. Now we will learn how to determine the valence electrons of fluorine(F).
Step-1: Determining the total number of electrons in fluorine
First we need to know the total number of electrons in the fluorine atom. To know the number of electrons, you need to know the number of protons in fluorine.
And to know the number of protons, you need to know the atomic number of the fluorine element. To know the atomic number we need to take the help of a periodic table.
It is necessary to know the atomic number of fluorine elements from the periodic table. The atomic number is the number of protons. And electrons equal to protons are located outside the nucleus.
That is, we can finally say that there are electrons equal to the atomic number in the fluorine atom. From the periodic table, we see that the atomic number of fluorine is 9. That is, a fluorine atom has a total of nine electrons.
Step-2: Need to do electron configuration of fluorine
Step 2 is very important. In this step, the electrons of fluorine have to be arranged. We know that fluorine atoms have a total of nine electrons.
The electron configuration of fluorine(F) shows that there are two electrons in the K shell and seven in the L shell. That is, the first shell(orbit) of fluorine has two and the second shell has seven electrons.
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 a valence electron.
The electron configuration of fluorine shows that the last shell of fluorine has seven electrons. Therefore, the valence electrons of fluorine are seven.
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What is the valency of fluorine?
The ability of one atom of an element to join another atom during the formation of a molecule is called valency(valence). The number of unpaired electrons in the last orbital of an element is the valency of that element.
The ground-state electron configuration of fluorine is 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz1.
The electron configuration of fluorine shows that there is an unpaired electron in the last orbital of fluorine(2pz1). Therefore, the valency of fluorine is 1.
How many valence electrons does fluoride ion(F–) have?
The elements that have 5, 6, or 7 electrons in the last shell receive the electrons in the last shell during bond formation. The elements that receive electrons and form bonds are called anions. That is, fluorine is an anion element.
F + e– → F–
During the formation of a bond, the last shell of fluorine receives electrons and turns them into a fluoride ion(F–).
The electron configuration of fluoride ion(F–) is 1s2 2s2 2p6. The electron configuration shows that fluoride ion have two shells and the last shell has eight electrons.
This electron configuration shows that the fluoride ion(F–) has acquired the electron configuration of neon. That is, in this case, the valency of fluorine ions is -1.
Since the last shell of fluoride ion has eight electrons, the valence electrons of fluoride ion are eight.
Compound formation of fluorine by valence electrons
Fluorine participates in the formation of bonds through its valence electrons. This valence electron participates in the formation of bonds with atoms of other elements. Fluorine atoms form bonds by sharing electrons with hydrogen atoms.
The electron configuration of hydrogen shows that hydrogen has only one electron. One hydrogen(H) atom and one fluorine atom make hydrogen fluoride(HF) compounds by sharing electrons
As a result, the fluorine atom completes its octave and acquires the electron configuration of neon.
On the other hand, hydrogen acquires the electron configuration of helium. Therefore, one fluorine atom shares electrons with one hydrogen atom to form the hydrogen fluoride(HF) compound through covalent bonding.