Question

State the variable valency of the metal silver.

Answer 1

• Silver has two different valencies: +1 and +2. Silver (Ag) has an atomic number of 47 and an electronic configuration of [2, 8, 18, 18, 1].
• It has one electron in its outermost shell and has valency [+1] when this electron is lost, but when the penultimate shell is not stable and one more electron jumps to the outermost shell, increasing the valence electron.
• The new configuration [2, 8, 18, 17, 2] loses two electrons and has valency [+2].