How to Find the Valence Electrons for Oxygen (O)?
Oxygen is the eighth element of the periodic table and the symbol is ‘O’. The standard atomic mass of oxygen is 15.99903. Oxygen participates in the formation of bonds through valence electrons.
What are the valence electrons of oxygen?
Oxygen is a non-metallic element. Oxygen is an element of group-16. The valence electron is the total number of electrons in the last orbit.
The total number of electrons in the last shell after the electron configuration of oxygen is called the valence electrons of oxygen.
The valence electrons determine the properties of the element and participate in the formation of bonds. The electron configuration of oxygen shows that the last shell of oxygen has a total of six electrons.
How do you calculate the number of valence electrons in an oxygen 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 oxygen.
Step-1: Determining the total number of electrons in oxygen
First we need to know the total number of electrons in the oxygen atom. To know the number of electrons, you need to know the number of protons in oxygen.
And to know the number of protons, you need to know the atomic number of the oxygen 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 oxygen 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 oxygen atom.
From the periodic table, we see that the atomic number of oxygen is 8. That is, an oxygen atom has a total of eight electrons.
Step-2: Need to do electron configuration of oxygen
Step 2 is very important. In this step, the electrons of oxygen have to be arranged. We know that oxygen atoms have a total of eight electrons.
The electron configuration of oxygen shows that there are two electrons in the K shell and six in the L shell. That is, the first shell of oxygen has two and the second shell has six electrons.
Step-3: Determine the valence shell and the calculate 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 oxygen shows that the last shell of oxygen has six electrons. Therefore, the valence electrons of oxygen are six.
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What is the valency of oxygen?
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 orbit of an element is the valency of that element. The electron configuration of oxygen in ground-state is 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py1 2pz1.
Here, the electron configuration shows that the last shell of oxygen has two unpaired electrons. Therefore, the valency of the oxygen is 2.
How many valence electrons does oxide ion(O2-) have?
The elements that have 5, 6, or 7 electrons in the last shell(orbit) receive the electrons in the last shell during bond formation. The elements that receive electrons and form bonds are called anion.
During the formation of bonds, the last shell of oxygen receives two electrons and turns them into an oxide ion(O2-). That is, oxygen is an anion element.
O + 2e– → O2-
Here, the electron configuration of oxide ion(O2-) is 1s2 2s2 2p6.
This electron configuration shows that oxide ion(O2-) have two shells and the second shell has eight electrons and it acquired the electron configuration of neon.
That is, in this case, the valence of oxygen ions is -2. Since the last shell of an oxygen ion has eight electrons, the valence electrons of an oxide ion(O2-) are eight.
Compound formation of oxygen by valence electrons
Oxygen participates in the formation of bonds through its valence electrons. This valence electron participates in the formation of bonds with atoms of other elements. Oxygen atoms form bonds by sharing electrons with hydrogen atoms.
The electron configuration of hydrogen shows that hydrogen has only an electron. Two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom make water(H2O) compounds by sharing electrons.
As a result, the oxygen atom completes its octave and acquires the electron configuration of neon.
On the other hand, hydrogen acquires the electron configuration of helium. Therefore, an oxygen atom shares electrons with two hydrogen atoms to form the H2O(water) compound through covalent bonding.