Question

Fill in the blanks.
The valency of chlorine atoms is `_______ and the value is taken as the standard value.

Answer 1

Hint: Valency of an atom could be defined as combining power of atoms of the element with atoms of the same or different element. Valency is itself divided into two types as well; one being Electrovalency and the other Covalency.

Complete step by step answer:
Valency can also be briefed as the number of electrons present in the outermost shell as the atom either gains, loses or shares electrons of the valence shell in order to combine with other elements to form stable compounds.
Atomic number of a chlorine atom = 17
Thus, the electronic configuration of chlorine atoms would mean there are 7 electrons present in the valence shell, hence it needs only 1 electron to stabilize and form a molecule.
Therefore the valency of chlorine atom is 1.

Note: Though, here, chlorine has just one valency that is 1 but one must keep in mind that there are several elements present in the periodic table which exhibit variable valency i.e. they have more than one valency.For instance, copper, tin, iron and mercury all exhibit variable valency.
Hence, the valency of chlorine is 1.