Fluorine Valency Calculation
This solution explains how to determine the valency of Fluorine, given its electron configuration in the outermost shell.
Understanding Valency
The valency of an element is a measure of its combining power with other atoms. It's typically defined by the number of electrons an atom needs to gain, lose, or share to achieve a stable electron configuration. For most elements, this stable configuration involves having 8 electrons in their outermost electron shell, known as the octet rule.
Fluorine's Electron Structure
The question states that Fluorine has 7 electrons in its outermost shell. Fluorine's atomic number is 9, so its full electron configuration is 2 electrons in the first shell and 7 electrons in the second (outermost) shell.
How Fluorine Achieves Stability
Fluorine wants to achieve a stable configuration, which means having 8 electrons in its outermost shell.
- Fluorine currently has 7 electrons in its outermost shell.
- To reach 8 electrons, Fluorine needs to gain just 1 more electron.
- Gaining 1 electron is energetically more favorable than losing the 7 electrons it already has.
Therefore, Fluorine's combining capacity, or valency, is 1.
Analyzing the Options
Let's look at why the other options are not the best explanation:
- Option 1: 8, because it follows the octet rule
This option confuses the target state (8 electrons) with the valency itself. Valency is how an atom achieves that state. - Option 2: 7, because it has 7 electrons
This is the number of valence electrons, not the valency. Valency considers the ease of achieving a stable octet. - Option 3: 0, because it is a non-metal
Valency isn't determined solely by whether an element is a non-metal. Many non-metals have non-zero valencies. - Option 4: 1, because it gains 1 electron to complete an octet
This accurately describes Fluorine's situation. It needs one electron to complete its octet, making its valency 1.
Conclusion on Fluorine's Valency
Based on its electron configuration of 7 electrons in the outermost shell, Fluorine needs to gain 1 electron to achieve a stable octet. Hence, its valency is 1.
Important Questions from Chemistry
Select the option that is true regarding the following two statements labelled Assertion (A) and Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Copper wire in iron sulphate solution shows no visible reaction.
Reason (R): Copper is less reactive than iron.- Which of the following are compressed gases commonly used in daily life? (i) LPG for cooking (ii) Oxygen in hospitals (iii) CNG in vehicles (iv) Water in bottles
- Given below are two statements. Select the correct answer from the options given for these statements.
Statement I: Metals low in the activity series can be obtained from their oxides without using any reducing agent.
Statement II: Heating alone is enough to reduce the oxides of these metals to pure metal. - Which of the following statements about Thomson's model are correct?
i. Atoms consist of a positively charged sphere.
ii. Electrons are randomly moving outside the sphere.
iii. The number of positive and negative charges is equal.
iv. The atom is overall neutral. - When comparing the stability of carbocations, which trend is directly supported by hyperconjugation theory?
