Valence electrons transition metals The valence electrons are the outermost electron in atom they are the

highest energy electrons and can absorb energy of photons. for the transition metals it is difficult top predict the number of valence electrons , because in these elements the last electrons fill in the d orbitals of the last shell, though the energy of the s orbital of the next shell is comparable to the d orbitals of the shell in which last or penetrating electrons enter. So the in general the valence electrons in a transition metals should be equal to the total number of electrons in the last d orbital plus the electrons in the s orbital of the next shell. As electrons in these orbitals have higher and comparable energy than the remaining filled orbitals but as we move from left to right in the period in the region of transition elements the tendency to have more valance electrons gets reduced. The electronic configuration of some of the transition metals is given with explanation on the number of valence electrons. Sc (21) 1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d1 As the energy of the 3d and 4s orbitals are comparable they are considered higher energy electrons in Sc and there fore the normal oxidation state of Sc is +3, Similarly the other transition metals from Sc to Mn have the maximum oxidation state as described below. And they are equal to the sum of electrons in the 3d and 4s orbitals. Ti(22) 1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d2 V(23) 1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d3 Cr(24) 1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d4 Mn(25)1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d5 So the maximum oxidation number of the metal are respectively +4, +5, +6 and+7 but as we move from left to right in the 3 period through the transition metals the energy of the 3d electrons is decreased, and apart from maximum oxidation state they also show some other oxidation state and common oxidation state may be different from the maximum oxidation state, In case of Iron this effect is very clear where the d electrons are mostly regarded as the core electrons. Fe(26) 1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2 4d6 it shows the maximum valiancy of only +3 though there are 8 electrons in 4s and 3d sub shell. Cu(29)1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s13d10 Zn(30)1s 2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 zinc show the only oxidation state as +2. Down the group we find less or more same trends as the number of shell increases the type of oxidation state becomes larger in a group but this cant be taken as a rule.