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Ch.8 - Basic Concepts of Chemical Bonding

Chapter 8, Problem 9a

(a) True or false: An element's number of valence electrons is the same as its atomic number.

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hey everyone in this example, we need to determine which of the below statement is a correct statement. So statement A says that the atomic number of an element is equal to its valence electrons. We would rule out choice A. It is not a correct statement. So this is false. Moving on to statement B, it says that the atomic number of an element is equal to its total number of electrons. So before we confirm B we would recall that our atomic number represented by the symbol Z is equal to our number of protons and also equal to our number of electrons only for neutral atoms. And so statement B says that the atomic number of the element is equal to its number of electrons. And that would be a true statement. So we would go ahead and confirm that statement B is a good answer choice. Moving onto statement see it says the atomic number of an element is equal to its core electrons. We would rule out choice C. That is not correct. Moving on, it says that statement D where the atomic number of an element is equal to its electron charge and we know that That is also not correct. So B is the only correct choice to complete this example. We should also recall that our atomic number Z is found from taking our valence electrons and adding that to our number of core electrons. And so that further disproves choices C. And A If you have any questions, just leave them down below And I'll see everyone in the next practice video