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Great question! You have to look at aluminum's electron configuration to see it. I'm not sure how far you are in chemistry... The configuration is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^1 If this is confusing for you, my apologies, I suggest you look up a picture accompanying this on Google. After you understand what aluminum looks like, you take a look at it's valence electrons, which is where I think the first problem lies. The oxidation number of aluminum is 3, because it has 3 valence electrons. The 3s orbital is filled and so it is very happy. The 3p sublevel wants 6 electrons (3 orbitals, 2 e- each), but it only has one. But all atoms want to be like their nearest noble gas, which has eight valence electrons (excluding helium). So even though the 3s subshell is happy, aluminum can be even happier if those two are gone. Hence, aluminum wants to get rid of the "loners" so that it is happier, and more stable. So that's why the oxidation number is 3, but I do believe the valency is 3 as well.

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