Question

How many electrons does fluorine have? How many electron shells? Name the orbitals that are occupied. How many electrons are needed to fill the valence shell?

Answer 1

Fluorine (F) has 9 electrons. It has 2 electron shells, with the first shell containing a maximum of 2 electrons and the second shell containing the remaining 7 electrons.

The orbitals that are occupied in fluorine are as follows:

1. The first shell contains a 1s orbital, which is filled with 2 electrons.
2. The second shell contains a 2s orbital, which is filled with 2 electrons.
3. The second shell also contains three 2p orbitals (2px, 2py, and 2pz), which are filled with 5 electrons. Each 2p orbital can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, but in fluorine, one of the 2p orbitals has only 1 electron.

To fill the valence shell of fluorine, it needs only 1 electron since the valence shell, which is the second shell, can accommodate a maximum of 8 electrons. Fluorine has 7 valence electrons, so it requires 1 additional electron to complete the octet and achieve a stable electron configuration.