Question

Which is more stable ${\mathrm{CuCl}}_2\mathrm{and}{\mathrm{Cu}}_2{\mathrm{Cl}}_2$?

Answer 1

1. Copper is a chemical element present in the periodic table.
2. It is a metallic element and is present in d-block elements.
3. The atomic number of Copper is $29$ and the mass number is $63.5$.
4. Copper is an exceptional element with electronic configuration$1{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{s}}^{2}3{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{d}}^{10}4{\mathrm{s}}^1$.
5. Copper show such a type of electronic configuration to attain stability.
6. Copper generally shows two types of oxidation state$+1\mathrm{and}+2$.
7. The $+1$ oxidation state of Copper is much more stable compared to the $+2$oxidation state.
8. This is because by losing two electrons the electronic configuration changes to$1{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{s}}^{2}3{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{d}}^9$, which is unstable configuration.
9. But losing one of its electrons the configuration changes to$1{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{s}}^{2}2{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{s}}^{2}3{\mathrm{p}}^{6}3{\mathrm{d}}^{10}$, and in this way the ${\mathrm{Cu}}^{+1}$ attains the stability
10. This happens because in this case all the electrons are filled in the d-orbital.
11. Therefore, we concluded that ${\mathrm{CuCl}}_2$ is much more stable compared to ${\mathrm{Cu}}_2{\mathrm{Cl}}_2$