Lithium valence electrons

The information on this page is ✔ fact-checked.

Lithium, an alkali metal, has 1 valence electron. The valence electrons of lithium can be found using two methods – from its position on the periodic table or from 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 lithium on the periodic table.

Next, mark the group number of lithium 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 lithium is in group 1, it has 1 valence electron.

Using electron configuration

• First, write electron configuration of lithium

The electron configuration of lithium is [He] 2s¹.

• 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 2^nd energy level contains 2s subshell and it has 1 electron. So lithium has a total of 1 valence electron.

Next: Beryllium valence electrons

📝 Your feedback matters. Visit our contact page.

Related

• Periodic table

More topics

• Lithium
• Lithium Bohr model
• Lithium orbital diagram
• Lithium protons neutrons electrons

External links

• https://www.sciencecoverage.com/2020/12/lithium-valence-electrons.html
• https://homework.study.com/explanation/how-many-valence-electrons-does-lithium-have.html
• https://www.quora.com/How-many-valence-electrons-in-lithium
• https://socratic.org/questions/how-many-valence-electrons-dose-lithium-have
• https://www.albert.io/learn/question/sat-chemistry-subject-test/valence-electrons-of-lithium-1