Why is helium inert, whereas hydrogen can be both reduced and oxidized?

1 Answer
anor277
Sep 12, 2017

Well, because hydrogen and helium, can possess up to 2 valence electrons.....but hydrogen can be both reduced and oxidized.

Explanation:

For hydrogen and helium we fill the 1s shell, which can accommodate only the TWO electrons. Now hydrogen can be reduced to give hydride anions, and can also be oxidized to give a formal H^+.

By contrast, helium has a FULL valence shell, i.e. 1s^2, which makes it extremely difficult to either reduce or oxidize. And hence helium, like the other closed-shell Noble gases, is a very unreactive customer.

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