Why does Argon have 18 electrons

aspen fernandes

Why does argon a nobel gas have 18 electrons in total so 8 in the 3rd shell when it should be 18 electrons

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

username2560671

Original post by aspen fernandes

Why does argon a nobel gas have 18 electrons in total so 8 in the 3rd shell when it should be 18 electrons

Like...whatttt??? U r confused!!! Whats ur question?

Reply 2

Daniel100499

It has 2 in its innermost shell, 8 in the middle shell, and 8 in the outermost shell, 18 electrons

Reply 3

YourGoddamnRight

Original post by aspen fernandes

Why does argon a nobel gas have 18 electrons in total so 8 in the 3rd shell when it should be 18 electrons

Because God wanted it to have 18 electrons.

Spoiler

Reply 4

aspen fernandes

Original post by Rohit_Rocks10

Like...whatttt??? U r confused!!! Whats ur question?

I am saying nobel gases have a full outer shell but argon doesn't

Reply 5

YourGoddamnRight

Original post by aspen fernandes

I am saying nobel gases have a full outer shell but argon doesn't

yes it does, look at my comment above.

s subshell holds 2 electrons

and p holds 6 electrons

Reply 6

sulaimanali

it does have a full outer shell.

Reply 7

Paulington

Argon does have eight electrons in its valence shell. What makes you think that it doesn't?

Reply 8

username2560671

Original post by aspen fernandes

Why does argon a nobel gas have 18 electrons in total so 8 in the 3rd shell when it should be 18 electrons

It does have 8. Who said it doesnt. 2+8+8=18!!!

Reply 9

aspen fernandes

Original post by YourGoddamnRight

yes it does, look at my comment above.

s subshell holds 2 electrons

and p holds 6 electrons

well according to A-level Chem textbook and according to Bohr the chemist the 3rd shell has a maximum capacity of 18 electrons but argon doesn't have 18 but 8 electrons.

Reply 10

Anonymouspsych

Original post by aspen fernandes

Why does argon a nobel gas have 18 electrons in total so 8 in the 3rd shell when it should be 18 electrons

The number of total maximum electrons in the nth innermost shell is 2n^2 so the first shell has 2, 2nd has 3, 3rd has 18 etc

In the case of Argon it's configuration goes 2.8.8 so in the 3rd shell it has eight electrons

Bohr's law states the maximum number of electrons that could theoretically be in a shell (the outermost shell doesn't have to be full) but any element has it's own unique number of total electrons that orbit the nucleus and in the case of argon it happens to be 18 electrons. There can't be 18 electrons in the 3rd shell as that would mean there would be 18+8+2 = 28 electrons in total which is obviously false as argon has 18 electrons altogether

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 11

Roxirin

Because it had a fight with a bunch of its protons, so now those protons argon and it's a very negative gas

(I'm so sorry I'll leave now)

Reply 12

aspen fernandes

Original post by Paulington

Argon does have eight electrons in its valence shell. What makes you think that it doesn't?

i am not saying that it doesn't it does have 8 electrons in the outer shell but argon is a nobel gas right so it should have a full outer shell so third shell should contain 18 but argon only has 8

Reply 13

d-m1

Original post by aspen fernandes

i am not saying that it doesn't it does have 8 electrons in the outer shell but argon is a nobel gas right so it should have a full outer shell so third shell should contain 18 but argon only has 8

But an outer shell can only hold 8 electrons maximum, not 18

Argon has 18 electrons IN TOTAL not just on its outer shell

Reply 14

aspen fernandes

Original post by m-k1

But an outer shell can only hold 8 electrons maximum, not 18

Argon has 18 electrons IN TOTAL not just on its outer shell

if you haven't done AS chem then if you do it then you'll learn that the 3rd shell actually contains 18 electrons, not 8 and the 4th shell contains 32 electrons.

Reply 15

Student1191

Original post by aspen fernandes

I am saying nobel gases have a full outer shell but argon doesn't

It does

Reply 16

YourGoddamnRight

Original post by aspen fernandes

well according to A-level Chem textbook and according to Bohr the chemist the 3rd shell has a maximum capacity of 18 electrons but argon doesn't have 18 but 8 electrons.

I think I understand what you mean:

I'm guessing you are talking about the 3d after the 4s. You're correct that the third shell has a potential for 18 electrons. The 3p^6 (last subshell) fills up the third subshell, if more electrons are added then it would create a 4th shell (4s), then if more electrons are added they would be added to the third shell.

Reply 17

Daddy Dagoth

Argon is 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6. The third shell isn't full as it doesn't have any electrons in d-orbitals, but it does have a full p-sub-shell in the 3rd shell so that has the same effect as in previous noble gases. The whole "full outer-shell" thing only really applies to Helium and Neon, all noble gases after them are like Argon in that they have a full p-sub-shell in their outer shell but no electrons in the d-sub-shell. They're still inert, as they are noble gases.

Reply 18

Paulington

You seem to be confusing the whole "stable octet" thing with electron configuration.

Argon has eight electrons in its outer shell because the third quantum level of orbitals is full. You will learn in A levels that electrons are not as simple as you think, you have multiple orbitals (s, p, d, f, etc) and a "full outer shell" means that the outer (highest energy) quantum level is full.

For example, this is the electron configuration of Argon:

Notice the third quantum level is full (excluding d-orbitals, they're a bit of a special thing) and so it does indeed have a full shell! :smile:

Reply 19

black1blade

In terms of GCSE, outer shell has 2 steps of being full. So it's full at 8 but for potassium and calcium, you have 1 and 2 extra electrons in that shell respectively. Basically it's actually an extremely simplified and inaccurate model that is good at explaining bonding between small atoms.