Answer:
3 e⁻ transfer has occurred.
Explanation
This is a redox reaction.
- Oxidation (loss of electrons or increase in the oxidation state of entity)
- Reduction (gain of electrons or decrease in the oxidation state of the entity)
- An element undergoes oxidation or reduction in order to achieve a stable configuration. It can be an octet or duplet configuration. An octet configuration is that of outer shell configuration of noble gas.
- [Ne]= (1s²) (2s² 2p⁶)
A combination of both the reactions( Half-reactions) leads to a redox reaction.
Let us look at initial configurations of Al and Cl
[Al]= 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p¹
[Cl]= 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁵
Hence, Al can lose 3 electrons to achieve octet config.
and, Cl can gain 1e to achieve nearest noble gas config. [Ar]
This reaction can be rewritten, by clearly mentioning the oxidation states of all the entities involved.
Al⁰ + Cl⁰ → (Al⁺³)(Cl⁻)₃
Here, Aluminum is undergoing an oxidation(i.e loss of electrons) from: 0→(+3)
Chlorine undergoes a reduction half reaction (i.e gain of electrons) from: 0→(-1). There are 3 such chlorine atoms, hence 3 e⁻ transfer has occurred.
