How many nonbonding electrons does phosphorus have?
is it 5 valence electrons
Yes it has 5 valence electrons. But aren't those bonding electrons? The question is for non-bonding electrons.
yeah that's why I wasn't sure about my answer ..
The answer is 10 non-bonding.
To determine the number of nonbonding electrons that phosphorus has, we first need to determine the total number of valence electrons it has.
Phosphorus belongs to Group 15 on the periodic table, which means it has 5 valence electrons. These electrons are located in the outermost energy level of the atom (specifically, in the 3s and 3p orbitals).
Now, to determine the number of nonbonding electrons, we need to consider the electron configuration of phosphorus. The electron configuration of phosphorus is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p³.
From this configuration, we can see that the 5 valence electrons of phosphorus are distributed among the 3s and 3p orbitals. The s orbitals can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, while each p orbital can hold a maximum of 6 electrons.
Therefore, we have 2 electrons in the 3s orbital, and 3 electrons in the 3p orbital. Since all 5 valence electrons are used for bonding, phosphorus does not have any nonbonding electrons.