Question #8ce42

1 Answer
Stefan V.
Jun 27, 2015

Actually, arsenic has 5 electrons in its outermost shell.

Explanation:

Arsenic, As, is located in period 4, group 15 of the periodic table and has an atomic number equal to 33.

This means that a neutral arsenic atom has 33 electrons surrounding its nucleus. The electron configuration for arsenic looks like this

"As": 1s^(2) 2s^(2) 2p^(6) 3s^(2) 3p^(6) 3d^(10) 4s^(2) 4p^(3)

or, using the noble gas shorthand notation

"As": ["Ar"] 3d^(10) 4s^(2) 4p^(3)

As you can see, the outermost shell is the fourth shell, n=4. This shell contains a total of 5 electrons, 2 in the 4s-orbital and 3 in the 4p-orbitals.

![http://study.com/academy/lesson/http://ground-state-electron-configuration-definition-example-quiz.html](https://useruploads.socratic.org/c6F9HPHRTlWibGcTL8HT_ground_state_3.png)

Since arsenic is not a transition metal, its valence electrons will be those electrons located in its outermost shell -> 5 valence electrons.

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