How many valence electrons does phosphorus have?

Answer 1

There are two ways to find out. Either you take a look at your periodic table and look at which group number #P# belongs (this can be seen on upper portion) or you can draw the electron configuration of #P# atom based on its atomic number (which is 15).

According to the periodic table above, phosphorus belongs to Group 5A. Therefore, Its valence electrons should be 5.

Let's check using the electron configuration:

#1s^2# #2s^2# #2p^6# #3s^2# #3p^3# = 15 electrons = atomic number of #P#

The outermost orbitals, #3s^2# #3p^3#, contains 5 electrons.

Thus, valence electrons for #P# is 5.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Luna Chen

Phosphorus has 5 valence electrons.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.