Explained: How Many Valence Electrons Does Calcium Have?

Calcium is an important element of famous oxidizing agents and has importance since the ancient Greeks discovered it. One of the most asked questions is that how many valence electrons does calcium have? And we will answer this famous question for you.

Oxygen like calcium is also a strong oxidizing agent and has some similar properties to calcium.

Similar Reads: Explained: How Many Valence Electrons Does Carbon Have

Everything About Valence Electrons and Calcium

The basics are important!

Before proceeding further you need to be aware of these frequently mentioned terms or you will fail to understand the rest of the article if you are not aware of them already.

The Electronic Configuration of Calcium in Detail

Electronic Configuration

Calcium is the 20th element in the periodic table. If you know how to interpret the periodic table and get the number of electrons and protons of the elements out of it, then it is evident that being at number 20th means it has 20 electrons. Let’s see how these 20 electrons are accommodated by calcium.

To state the electronic configuration of calcium, you need to know that they accommodate it in the shells composed of subshells.

You also need to know what an orbital is:

An orbital is the area in whih electrons spin in opposite direction and s=is the most likely place in an atom where the electrons are found.

The first two electrons out of the 20 electrons will go to the 1s orbital; the 1s orbital can hold up to 2 electrons. The following two electrons go to the 2s orbital, and the next 6 will go to the 2p orbital; the p orbital can only hold up to 6 electrons.  The next two electrons go to the 3s orbital and the 3s orbital only hold a maximum of 2 electrons so we move towards the 3p orbital, which will accommodate the next 6 electrons. Now two electrons out of the 20 electrons are left and thus, they are accommodated in the 4s orbital.

From the above paragraph, we can conclude that the 4th shell of the calcium atom is not fully filled, and it is making the calcium atom unstable, as the 4p,4d, and 4d subshells of the calcium atom are not filled.

The question of how many valence electrons does calcium have is 20 but it being 20 aids the calcium atom to have the ability to oxidize other elements once it starts seeking the noble gas configuration to fill its last shell.

How to Find Valency of Calcium

Finding the valency of calcium

There are a plethora of ways to find the valency of an atom, and the valency, as stated below, tells us how it is bonded to another atom to gain a stable electronic configuration that of a noble gas.

If an atom has the tendency to lose electrons, then it has the valency is said to be negative but if it is positive then it has a positive valency. If an atom has 4 electrons in the outermost shell then it is said to have both positive and negative valency.

The valency of calcium is two and it means that it is having a negative valency as it has to lose electrons to attain a noble gas configuration. Thus a calcium atom, because of these two electrons, forms a maximum of two covalent bonds.

Interesting Facts About Calcium

1. It was discovered in 1808 by Cornish Chemist Sir Humphry Davy. He was the first scientist to successfully isolate calcium from lime using a technique known as electrolysis while using mercury oxide as the other compound.
2. Calcium is essential to the human body, not just the bones, but without it, the muscles won’t be moved as they play a part in the transition of signals to the brain. There are calcium receptors in the muscles, making them move as the body regulates calcium concentration.
3. It is important to the soils as it is a mineral source to them; it also regulated the soil’s ph level, making it perfect for the plants to grow in.
4.  The lack of calcium can cause osteoporosis which is a disease of the bones, making them abnormally porous, and it may result in easy fractures and lower ability of healing.
5. Calcium has been discovered since the time of the ancient Romans, who made lime from calcium oxide.