Question

Look at the dots around each symbol and the energy levels from the resources above;

Answer 1

Hello! Here's the answer I was able to come up with:

Why does Na have only one dot?

Sodium, or Na, has only one valence electron.  (This makes the atom tend to participate in ionic bonding and "give" its single valence electron to an atom like chlorine.)

Why do none of these diagrams show more than 8 dots?

It is physically impossible for an atom to have more than 8 electrons in its valence layer, according to the Octet Rule.

What relationship do you notice between the dots in these two charts?

The dot diagram for each element represents the number of electrons each element will have in its outermost, or valence, shell. (2-8-8)

The number of dots that hydrogen and helium have in their dot diagram is the same as the number of electrons shown for them on the Periodic Table. Why?

An atom can have a maximum of two electrons in its innermost layer. Hydrogen and helium have only one and two electrons, respectively, so they don't have enough electrons to actually have more than one layer. Therefore, their outermost layer is, in fact, their only layer. This is why the number of dots that hydrogen and helium have in their dot diagram is the same as the number of electrons shown for them on the Periodic Table.

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