Metals lose electrons under certain conditions to attain a noble gas electron configuration. How many electrons must be lost by the element Na ?

Answer 1

Hello Ariel,

The atomic number of Na is 11. According to the periodic table, the closest noble gas to Sodium is Neon (a noble gas) with an atomic number of 10. Hence, Sodium has to lose only 1 electron to reach the electronic configuration of Neon and by losing that one electron, it becomes a very reactive element.

The other angle of thinking through this question is that otherwise, Sodium has to gain 7 electrons from 11+7=18 to reach Argon's noble gas configuration of 8 electron's in it's outer shell.

However, losing one electron by Na is easier than gaining 7 more electrons and hence Na loses 1 electron in order to have octet valence electrons like Neon.

Hope I have answered your query Ariel and feel free to reach out to me if you need any further help.

Thank you.

Geetha