Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
The valence electrons are the electrons in the last shell or energy level of an
atom. They do show a repeating or periodic pattern. The valence electrons
increase in number as you go across a period. Then when you start the new
period, the number drops back down to one and starts increasing again. For
example, when you go across the table from carbon to nitrogen to oxygen,
the number of valence electrons increases from 4 to 5 to 6. As we go from
fluorine to neon to sodium, the number of valence electrons increases from 7
to 8 and then drops down to 1 when we start the new period with sodium
For a chemist, the valence electrons are quite possibly the most important
electrons an atom has. "Why the valence electrons?", you might ask. Well,
since the valence electrons are the electrons in the highest energy level, they
are the most exposed of all the electrons ... and, consequently, they are the
electrons that get most involved in chemical reactions. Chemists use a
notation called electron dot diagrams, also known as Lewis diagrams, to
show how many valence electrons a particular element has. An electron dot
diagram consists of the element's symbol surrounded by dots that represent
the valence electrons. Typically the dots are drawn as if there is a square
surrounding the element symbol with up to two dots per side. (An element
will never have more than eight valence electrons.)
Emp ir ical For mu la
In chemistry, the empirical formula of a chemical compound is a simple expression of the
relative number of each type of atom (called a chemical element) in it. An empirical
formula makes no reference to isomerism, structure, or absolute number of atoms.
Empirical formulae are the standard for ionic compounds, such as CaCl2, and for
macromolecules, such as SiO2. The term empirical refers to the process of elemental
analysis, a technique of analytical chemistry used to determine the relative percent
composition of a pure chemical substance by element.
In contrast, the molecular formula identifies the absolute number of atoms of such
element to be found in each discrete molecule of that compound.
Example:
What is the percentage of the various elements in Sodium
Carbonate [Na2CO3] ?
Given Atomic Weights: C = 12 ; O = 16 ; Na = 23
So,
Percentage of Sodium [Na] in Sodium Carbonate [Na2CO3] =
46/106 x 100 = 43.40%.
Naming Compound
Before naming a compound, you have to figure out what kind
of compound it is. We will consider three types:
c. Polyatomic Ions