What is the electron dot structure for Au/gold and why?

Question

Ellie Adams · Accepted Answer

#"Au"# #cdot# Gold/Au (atomic number #79#) has only one electron in its outer valence shell. The #10 xx # #5d# electrons in gold are in a filled energy level, leaving only one electron in the outer shell. The ground state configuration of Gold is #[Xe] 5d^10 6s^1# The energy level difference between the #6s# and #5d# is small. This makes it possible for one of the two #6s# electrons to rather be in the #5d# orbitals. When the #5d# has #10# electrons, the #5d# orbitals are filled. The filled #5d# orbitals make gold very stable. Furthermore, the #6s# orbital contracts due to scalar relativistic effects (where the #6s# electrons move at about half the speed of light), becoming relatively inaccessible to many reactants, making gold quite inert.

Ruby Allen · Answer

undefined The electron dot structure for gold (Au) indicates that gold has one valence electron. This is because gold is located in Group 11 of the periodic table, which means it has one electron in its outermost shell. Therefore, the electron dot structure for gold would consist of a single dot representing its valence electron.