How can I find valence electrons?

Valence electrons can be defined as the electrons that are located in the outermost electron shell of an element. Valence electrons are used by a chemist to determine the chemical bond of those elements.

There are different ways on how to find a valence electron, either through the use of electron configuration or using a periodic table.

Here are steps to follow when finding the valence electron using an electron configuration

1. Learn how to read an electron configuration; they represent the electron orbitals in an atom with letters and numbers.

2. Find the electron configuration for the element you are examining.

3. Assign electron to orbital sheets using the octet rule.

4. Find the number of electrons present in the outermost shell, which will represent the valence electron; for example, sodium has 1 electron in its valence electron.

Valence electrons There are instances when in order to find the valence electrons, you should also know how to predict.

Remember to follow these steps so that you can find the right valence electrons:

• You can refer to a periodic table of elements.

• Look at the different columns that are available, and you will see that there are 18 that you can find right now.

• Take note that all of the elements that are under one vertical column will have the same number of valence electrons.

• Find the element that you are searching for in the table and check the number of valence electrons that are available.Take note that finding the number of valence electrons can be different if you are going to base on the electronic configuration.

A valence electron is the number of electrons in the outermost shell of an element
• The first step is to get the periodic table of chemical elements
• Start labeling each of the columns that are on the periodic table from number 1 to number 18. These are the groups of the periodic table
• Locate the element whose valence electron you are looking for on the periodic table
• Use the number you have labeled on top of the column of the periodic table which stands for the group to determine the valence electron
• For elements having more than ten has their label subtract ten from the group number; this would serve as the number of valence electron the element has
• Another method of determining the valence electron is by the electronic configuration method
• This involves determining the spdf electronic configuration.
• The remaining number of electrons after the formation of the octet shape stands as the valence electrons.