Question

How many electrons are present in the outermost shell of non-metals?

Answer 1

• Non-metals generally contains $5$ to $8$ electrons in their outermost shell.
• In non-metals, the effective nuclear charge experienced by outer shell electrons is extremely high. As a result, instead of losing electrons, they can accept them.

For example,

Chlorine $\left(Cl\right)$ is a non-metal that contains $7$ electrons in its outermost shell and its electronic configuration is;

$\left[Ne\right]$$3s^{2}3p^5$