Question

How many valence electrons do alkali metals have?

Answer 1

The answer here is based on the basic concept of the general chemistry part which tells us about the atoms and its structure where the valence electrons are determined and they are nothing but the outermost electrons present in the shell.

Complete answer:
In the lower classes of inorganic chemistry, we have studied the basic concepts of the chemistry which deals with the atoms and its electronic configuration and also the valence electrons in an atom.
Let us now recall those concepts so that we will be able to solve this question.
- Valence electrons are those electrons that are present in the outermost orbit of the atom.
- These valence electrons can be determined by writing down the electronic configuration of the atom and thus the extreme end shell will be having certain electrons which are the valence electrons.
- Now in the question, the alkali metals are those elements that belong to the group 1 which are from the Lithium to Francium.
- Alkali metals are the most electropositive metals because they exhibit the oxidation state of +1
- Alkali metals have one electron in the s-orbital and their valence shell outside the noble gas core and the general electronic configuration of these alkali metals are represented as,
$[Noble-gas]n{{s}^{1}}$
Therefore, they have only 1 electron in their outermost orbit.
Thus, the correct answer is alkali metals have 1 valence electron.

Note:
Note that the alkali metals show the marked similarities and also the regular gradation in their physical and chemical properties and are said to constitute a homogenous group.