Valence electrons in transition metals

[Anna Turk 1D]

How do you know how many valence electrons transition metals will have? Thanks!

[Kurosh Zamiri 1I]

Hi! I would also like some clarification on your question. However, to my knowledge, most transition metals have 2 valence electrons, which they would lose to obtain a charge of 2+. I believe this is due to the s subshell having a slightly higher energy than the d subshell, which explains why we notate 3d before 4s. Since the s subshell is the outermost orbital in transition metals, and usually it is filled, this means that in most cases transition metals would have 2 valence electrons. Hope this helps!

[Rebecca Preusch 2C]

typically they have two, but when in doubt you can check how many by looking at the electron configuration for the transition metal.

[605721741]

It's best to check where they are located on the periodic table and use auf-bau principles to find out.