What is the electron exchange when aluminium and sulphur combine to form aluminium sulphide?
Each aluminum atom donates three electrons, and each Sulfur atom accepts two electrons. Therefore, to form a molecule, six electrons are transported...
Al2S3
EAch aluminum donates three, or six total.
Each Sulfide accepts two, or six total.
When aluminium and sulphur combine to form aluminium sulphide, an electron exchange occurs between the two elements. To understand the electron exchange, let's first look at the electron configurations of aluminium and sulphur.
Aluminium (Al) has an atomic number of 13, so it has 13 electrons. The electron configuration of aluminium is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p¹.
Sulphur (S) has an atomic number of 16, so it has 16 electrons. The electron configuration of sulphur is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁴.
To form aluminium sulphide (Al₂S₃), aluminium needs to lose three electrons, while sulphur needs to gain two electrons.
Since aluminium loses three electrons, its electron configuration changes from 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p¹ to just 1s² 2s² 2p⁶.
Sulphur, on the other hand, gains two electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration of argon (1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶).
Overall, the electron exchange can be represented as follows:
2 Al --> 2 Al³⁺ + 6e⁻ (Each aluminium atom loses 3 electrons)
3 S + 6e⁻ --> 3 S²⁻ (Each sulphur atom gains 2 electrons)
So, in the formation of aluminium sulphide, 2 aluminium atoms lose a total of 6 electrons to form 2 Al³⁺ ions, and 3 sulphur atoms gain a total of 6 electrons to form 3 S²⁻ ions.