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What are atoms valence electrons?
the electrons on their outer shell, all atoms want to gain a full valence shell.
How many electrons does an oxygen atom want to have in its outer sell?
"Want" is a word you should try to avoid when talking about atoms. Oxygen reacts to get a full outer shell of 8.
Why do atoms share electrons?
They share electrons when they try and corm covalent or ionic bonds. This is because the atoms want to gain a full outer shell. So when they share electrons they can have full shells.
Why does carbon want to bond with other atoms?
Since a carbon atom has 4 electrons in its outer shell, it does not have the stable arrangement of 8, which it can gain by sharing electrons with other atoms.
The happy atoms are the blank gases They dont react because blank?
The happy atoms are the noble gases. They don't react because their valence electron shells are full. The goal of every element is to have the most outer shell of electrons full. The first shell holds 2 electrons, and every shell after that holds 8 electrons. So helium and hydrogen both want to have 2 electrons in their outer shells. Elements like neon and argon have 8 electrons in their outer shells. Atoms like chlorine and fluorine have 7 electrons in their outer shells. This means that aren't "happy" because they want to have 8. This is why they ionically bond with atoms like sodium that have 1 electron in their outer shells. Sodium gives that electron to chlorine and now both have 8 electrons in their outer shells.
Why would two oxygen atoms want to form a double covalent bond?
A lone oxygen atom has 6 electrons in its outer shell which is not very stable, whereas as full octet (8 outer shell electrons) is stable. In order to achieve this two oxygen atoms will share 4 electrons, each contributing 2 electrons. Since these electrons exist within the orbitals of both atoms, to oxygen atoms essentially achieve a full octet.
Why do atoms want to gain or lose electrons in the first place?
The theory is that some electrons are only weakly held to their atoms (they are in an outer electron shell). Some other atoms have an outer electron shell that is not fully complete and is able to attract electrons away from atoms that have loosely-held ones. Both these atoms then become ions, one charged positvely (having lost an electron) and some negatively (having gained one).
Why does a calcium atom want to lose it's outer electrons?
Atoms always want to have 8 electrons in their outer shell. Calcium only has two so its easier for it to give those away than to aquire 6 more. When these electrons are gone, that "shell" no longer exists so its got 8.
Covalent bonds and ionic bonds occur because atoms want to become more stable To do this many atoms gain lose or share electrons until their outermost electron shells are full ie resemble t?
8 electrons needed to make a full outer shell?
What kind of atom tends to lose one electrons?
The atoms located on the left side of the Periodic Table, like elements such as lithium, sodium, potassium, caesium, rubidium and francium. These elements lose an electron very easy. The common name of these is alkaline metals.But not only alkaline metals lose electrons easily. A basic rule is that elements located on the left side of the periodic table loses electrons, and those on the right side gets electrons.I'll try to explain this very fast. The periodic table is organized very well. Which number the element is tells you how many protons the atom has. The atom has as many electrons as protons.When we're talking about reactions between elements, the outer shell of electrons is important. The electrons of the atom are organized very well, in several "shells". Which horizontal line the element is placed on tells you how many shells the atom has, and the vertical line tells you how many electrons it has in the outer shell.What the atoms "want" in a reaction is to have full outer shells. The atoms located on the left side has very fewelectrons in the outer shell, and the atoms on the right has very many electrons in the outer shell. Therefore, the atoms on the left gives away electrons, and the ones on the right get electrons. This is also why the atoms located on the middle of the periodic table don't react so easily, and why the atoms on the very right side (the noble gases) don't react at all.
Can one hydrogen atom bond with one carbon?
Yes, but more is needed. According to the octect rule, atoms want to fill their outer most valence shell with the maximum amount of electrons. When this is applied to carbon, carbon wants to have 8 electrons in its outer most valence shell. As a neutral atoms, carbon has 4 electrons in its outer most valence shell. Hydrogen has only one electron, so it only has one elctron to give. This means carbon attacthed to one hydrogen atom has 5 electrons in its outer most valence shell. Carbon will still want to bond to more atoms in order to have 8 electrons in its more outer valence shell.
What heppens when a atom gains or loses electrons?
When an atom gains or loses electrons, it gains a negative or positive charge respectively. Atoms generally try to gain enough electrons to fill their outer, valence electron shell. For the first shell the number of electrons is 2 and for all others, atoms usually want 8 electrons.
