Goosmo Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Can an atom only give one electron? I was wondering since I believe double bonding can give more than one. But if that is possible, why do water need 2 hydrogens to get 2 electrons. Can't it just get 2 from one hydrogen? Idk if i should post this in player helping players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaniteCircuit Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 (edited) It depends on how many electrons the respective atoms have on their valence shells. That, and Oxygen tends to bond with 2 separate atoms as opposed to 1. Edited November 9, 2015 by Vattira Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arKRazor Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Hydrogen has but one to give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gelkor Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Hydrogen has but one to give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn11715 Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 (edited) Every atom wants to be stable, this means in general they want to have 8 electrons or 0 (only exeption are H and He which both need 0 or 2, but that doesnt matter now) H got 1 electron so it wants to have 0 or 2, oxygen got 6 electrons and wants to have 0 or 8 (would prefferably have 8 cause thats closer to 6 then 0) So O takes the electrons from two H to get more stable. Edited November 9, 2015 by Dawn11715 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goosmo Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Oh okay, so if there are only 2 electrons, then it can only give one, thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gelkor Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Oh okay, so if there are only 2 electrons, then it can only give one, thanks :) No, Hydrogen only has 1 electron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JinxedEye Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 No... All atoms in nature seek the closest noble gas configuration. Noble gasses are the very last column in the periodic table. Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, raydon, etc. Now, elements can either accept, or looses electrons to get that noble gas configuration. The very first 2 columns are elements that loose one and 2 electrons for the nearest noble gas electron. Column one looses 1, column 2 looses 2. As apposed to loosing electrons, there are elements that can only gain electrons. These are the 3 columns before the last column. Nitrogen, oxygen and chlorine gas. In order, the nitrogen column accepts 3 electrons, oxygen column accepts 2 electrons, and the Florida column accepts one electron for the nearest noble gas configuration. All elements in the same column behave similarly. Now, what you have left is the elements between the Be and N column. Those elemebts are harder to define. The coulmn with carbon, that neither looses, or gains electrons. Rather, it shares to form a stable noble gas Co figurative. To the left of carbon all loose up to 3 electrons, but it depends on the number of valence electrons. This is where you get into high level chemistry. A good reference value would be the column with carbon. To the left loose electrons. To the right gain electrons. How much, is written above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValkyrWF Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 It can give up to three, or take up to three. The question is how many valence electrons are there in the first place. If it is less than four, it will more likely lose them. If it has greater than four, it will likely take three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts