To determine the number of valence electrons in nitric oxide (NO), we need to consider the electron configuration of nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) and their bonding in the molecule.
Nitrogen (N) has an atomic number of 7, and its electron configuration is 1s² 2s² 2p³. Oxygen (O) has an atomic number of 8, and its electron configuration is 1s² 2s² 2p⁴.
In nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen forms a single bond with oxygen, resulting in a sharing of electrons. The bonding between nitrogen and oxygen involves a single covalent bond, where each atom contributes one electron to the shared pair.
As a result, the nitrogen atom in NO contributes 5 valence electrons (from its 2s² 2p³ configuration), and the oxygen atom contributes 6 valence electrons (from its 2s² 2p⁴ configuration).
However, since the bond involves sharing of electrons, we count only one of the shared electrons from each atom as a valence electron.
Therefore, the total number of valence electrons in nitric oxide (NO) is 5 (from nitrogen) + 1 (from oxygen) = 6 valence electrons.