hydrogen atoms valence shell..?

[hellonurse]

This is an easy question that I can't wrap my head around.

Why does hydrogen have 1 valence electron and no inner shell electrons?

Is there still an inner shell there? If there is, why would the electrons chose to be on the outer valence shell if they are attracted to the nucleus?

thanks in advance!!

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[Charles English]

on the off chance this is a genuine question... i'm not sure where your confusion comes from.

first of all, you can think of valence electrons as the ones that participate in bonding--hydrogen only has one electron, so it has to be the valence electron, and thus in the valence shell.

second, you can think of the valence orbitals as the set of orbitals with the highest available n quantum number--again, in this case there is just the 1s shell, and thus is the valence shell.

in your question you seemed to imply that hydrogen might have more than one electron/shell... it does not.

hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table, the one on the top left... i don't know what else to say.

 

[cyrano]

on the off chance this is a genuine question... i'm not sure where your confusion comes from.

first of all, you can think of valence electrons as the ones that participate in bonding--hydrogen only has one electron, so it has to be the valence electron, and thus in the valence shell.

second, you can think of the valence orbitals as the set of orbitals with the highest available n quantum number--again, in this case there is just the 1s shell, and thus is the valence shell.

in your question you seemed to imply that hydrogen might have more than one electron/shell... it does not.

hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table, the one on the top left... i don't know what else to say.

I know you tried to really symplify things but let me add a few quick notes for the sake of clarity incase anyone else reads this thread.

Valence electrons are just the outermost shell of electrons (highest energy and least amount of Zeff acting upon them so they are more volatile) in whatever configuration they may be. e.g in Carbon electrons the S and P orbitals can hydridize to make up to four sigma bonds.

Valence electrons need not participate in bonding or be capable of it to be so named. e.g. noble gasses outer shell

Also, remember that there are exceptions to thinking of valence electrons as those with the highest "n" or quantum number value. D orbitals are a great example of this as they will have a lower quantum number but still be involved in both metallic bonding and covalent bonding. This is because electrons in the D orbital can have a higher or lower NRG than the SN orbital proceding it. Remember this concept when finding orbital configuration on transition metals. Both the 4th and the 9th column in the transition metals are special.

 

[VooDooo327]

Simply said since there is only one shell the inner and the valence shell are the same. The same thing goes for Helium. Just take a look at the periodic table and you can pretty much use the rule that the row is the shell it is in. Once you get to orbitals it might get a little more confusing but I think this should do for now O_O.