Question

Sodium has one electron in its outer energy level. According to the octet rule, _____.

Answer 1

Answer : According to the octet rule, sodium wants to lose an electron.

Explanation :

The given element is sodium with atomic number 11 that means it has 11 electrons.

The electronic configuration of sodium will be,

`1s^22s^22p^63s^1`

From the electronic configuration, we see that one electron of sodium present in its outer energy level. Sodium can be lose one electron easily for the stable electronic configuration.

According to the octet rule, sodium has the tendency to lose one electron and form positive ion with the charge (+1).

Hence, according to the octet rule, sodium wants to lose an electron.

Answer 2

A sodium atom has a single electron in its outermost electron shell, the first and second shells again being full with two and eight electrons respectively. To remove this outer electron requires only the first ionization energy, which is +495.8 kJ per mole of sodium atoms, a small amount of energy. By contrast, the second electron resides in the deeper second electron shell, and the second ionization energy required for its removal is much larger: +4562.4 kJ per mole. Thus sodium will, in most cases, form a compound in which it has lost a single electron and have a full outer shell of eight electrons, or octet.