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Question

Question: How many electrons does copper have?...

How many electrons does copper have?

Explanation

Solution

Hint To find the number of electrons in a copper atom , you should first know what the atomic number of copper is and then, by using that, we can find the electrons present in the copper atom. Now you can easily answer the statement.

Complete step by step answer:
Copper is a metal which comes under the category of the transition elements and belongs to the d-block elements of the periodic table. Transition metals are those elements which come in between the s-block elements and p-block elements.
It lies in the 11th group and 4nd period of the periodic table.
It has the atomic number as 29 and the mass number as 65 and has the electronic configuration as: [Ar]183d104s1{{[Ar]}^{18}}3{{d}^{10}}4{{s}^{1}}.
Now considering the statement as;
The number of electrons present in an atom is always equal to the atomic number of that very element.
And The electrons which are present in the outermost valence shell of an atom are called the valence electrons of the atom.
From the electronic configuration of the copper atom, we come to know that the number of electrons present in the copper are 29 electrons.

Thus, the total number of electrons present in copper is twenty-nine.

Note: Copper being a transition metal has ten electrons in its outermost shell and has a strong tendency to lose the electrons in 4s orbitals to acquire the stable fully-filled electronic configuration.