Question

Will ${}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ and ${}^{37}\mathrm{Cl}$ have different valencies? Justify your answer.

Answer 1

Valency and Isotopes:

• Valency is defined as the capacity power of an atom.
• Two or more species of atoms are said to be isotopes if they have the same atomic number but have different mass numbers.

Relating Isotopes with Valency:

• Since isotopes have the same atomic number, this implies that they have an equal number of electrons indicating that their valencies are equal.
• ${}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ and ${}^{37}\mathrm{Cl}$ are the isotopes of Chlorine($\mathrm{Cl}$) and thus, they have equal valency i.e. 1.

Hence, ${}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ and ${}^{37}\mathrm{Cl}$ will have the same valency.