How many valence electrons are possessed by an oxygen atom?

1 Answer
anor277
Apr 12, 2017

The oxygen atom has SIX valence electrons...............

Explanation:

...........which means its ions MIGHT have a #-2# electronic charge.

The oxygen ATOM has #Z=8#, i.e. 8 protonic charges. The neutral atom thus must have 8 electronic charges, 2 of which are inner core, and the remaining 6 are valence electrons. It tends to form ions with 8 valence electrons, i.e. #O^(2-)#, tho' other ions are possible.

In elemental oxygen, the stuff we are breathing now, we conceive a structure of #:stackrel(ddot)O=stackrel(ddot)O:#, and of course this is neutral, and the 6 valence electrons are apparent; the 4 electrons which comprise the double bond are conceived to be shared by the bound atoms.

Related questions
See all questions in Valence Electrons
Impact of this question
2481 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License