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Beryllium, an alkaline earth metal, holds 2 valence electrons. The valence electrons of beryllium can be determined by two methods, directly locating its position on the periodic table or using its electron configuration.
Methods
Using periodic table
Get the periodic table having the chemical elements marked on it as mentioned above.
Now mark the location of beryllium on the periodic table.
Next, mark the group number of beryllium on the periodic table.
The valence electrons of each main-group element can be determined by the column in which it is located.
(i.e., all group 1 elements have 1 valence electron, all group 2 elements have 2 valence electrons, skip the transition metals… then, all group 13 elements have 3 valence electrons, all group 14 elements have 4 valence electrons, and so on up to group 18 elements)
Since beryllium is in group 2, it has 2 valence electrons.
Using electron configuration
- First, write electron configuration of beryllium
The electron configuration of beryllium is [He] 2s2.
- Second, find highest energy level in electron configuration
In the above electron configuration, the highest energy level (2) is marked with green color.
- Finally, count electrons of that energy level
The 2nd energy level contains 2s subshell and it has 2 electrons. So beryllium has a total of 2 valence electrons.
Next: Sodium valence electrons
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External links
- https://socratic.org/questions/beryllium-has-how-many-valence-electrons-in-its-last-ring
- https://valenceelectrons.com/valence-electrons-of-beryllium/
Deep
Learnool.com was founded by Deep Rana, who is a mechanical engineer by profession and a blogger by passion. He has a good conceptual knowledge on different educational topics and he provides the same on this website. He loves to learn something new everyday and believes that the best utilization of free time is developing a new skill.