Bond Formation The Octet Rule

In 1915, G. N. Lewis proposed several new theories describing how atoms bond together to form molecules. One of these theories states that a filled shell of electrons is especially stable, and atoms transfer or share electrons in such a way as to attain a filled shell of electrons. A filled shell of electrons is simply the electron configuration of a noble gas, such as He, Ne, or Ar. This principle has come to be called the octet rule because a filled shell implies eight valence electrons for the elements in the second row of the periodic table. 

There are two ways that atoms can interact to attain noble-gas configurations. Sometimes atoms attain noble-gas configurations by transferring electrons from one atom to another. For example, lithium has one electron more than the helium configuration, and fluorine has one electron less than the neon configuration. Lithium easily loses its valence electron, and fluorine easily gains one  

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