How to Find the Valence Electrons for Yttrium (Y)?
The 39th element in the periodic table is yttrium. The element of group-3 is yttrium and its symbol is ‘Y’. Yttrium is a d-block element. Therefore, the valence electrons of the yttrium element are determined differently.
What are the valence electrons of yttrium?
The 2nd element in group-3 is yttrium. The elements in groups 3-12 are called transition elements. The valence electrons are the total number of electrons in the last orbit.
But in the case of transition elements, the valence electrons remain in the inner shell(orbit). This is because the electron configuration of the transition elements shows that the last electrons enter the d-orbital.
The valence electrons determine the properties of the element and participate in the formation of bonds. The electron configuration of yttrium shows that the last shell of yttrium has a total of two electrons.
But the electron configuration of yttrium in the Aufbau method shows that its last electron(4d1) has entered the d-orbital. To determine the valence electron of a transition element, the last shell electrons have to be calculated with the d-orbital electrons.
The yttrium participates in the formation of bonds through its last three electrons and can become an ion by donating the last three electrons.
How do you calculate the number of valence electrons in a yttrium 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. This is 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 electrons of yttrium.
Step-1: Determining the total number of electrons in yttrium
1st we need to know the total number of electrons in the yttrium atom. To know the number of electrons, you need to know the number of protons in the yttrium. And to know the number of protons, you need to know the atomic number of the yttrium 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 yttrium 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 yttrium atom. From the periodic table, we see that the atomic number of yttrium is 39. That is, the yttrium atom has a total of thirty-nine electrons.
Step-2: Need to do electron configuration of yttrium
The first two electrons of yttrium enter the 1s orbital. The s-orbital can have a maximum of two electrons. Therefore, the next two electrons enter the 2s orbital. The p-orbital can have a maximum of six electrons. So, the next six electrons enter the 2p orbital.
The second orbit is now full. So, the remaining electrons will enter the third orbit. Then two electrons will enter the 3s orbital and the next six electrons will be in the 3p orbital of the third orbit.
The 3p orbital is now full. So, the next two electrons will enter the 4s orbital and ten electrons will enter the 3d orbital. The 3d orbital is now full. So, the next six electrons enter the 4p orbital. The 4p orbital is now full.
Then the next two electrons will enter the 5s orbital. The 5s orbital is now full. So the remaining one electron enters the 4d orbital. Therefore, the yttrium electron configuration will be 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d1 5s2.
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.
But the valence electrons of the transition elements are located in the inner shell. For the transition element, the valence electrons have to be determined by adding the total electron of the d-orbital to the electron in the last shell of the atom.
The electron configuration shows that the last shell of yttrium has two electrons and the d-orbital has a total of an electron. Therefore, the valence electrons of yttrium are three.
What is the valency of yttrium?
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.
During compound formation, the yttrium atom donates three electrons to another atom and the oxidation state of yttrium is +3. Therefore, the valency of the yttrium element is 3.
How many valence electrons does yttrium ion(Y3+) have?
The elements that have 1, 2, or 3 electrons in the last shell donate the electrons in the last shell during bond formation. The elements that form bonds by donating electrons are called cations.
Yttrium donates the electron of the last shell to form bonds and turns into a yttrium ion(Y3+). That is, yttrium is a cation element.
Y – 3e– → Y3+
The electron configuration of yttrium ion is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6. The electron configuration of the yttrium ion shows that the yttrium ion(Y3+) has four shells and the last shell has eight electrons.
The electron configuration shows that the yttrium ion has acquired the electron configuration of krypton. Since the last shell of a yttrium ion has eight electrons, the valence electrons of the yttrium ion(Y3+) are eight.