How will the Fe reach noble gas configuration? The problem I have is that, for example in FeO, iron may keep its 8 valence electrons, but it still won't reach noble gas configuration nor electron octet.

1 Answer
Michael
May 2, 2015

Iron has the electron configuration:

#[Ar]3d^(6)4s^(2)#

When it forms FeO the 2 outer 4s electrons are lost to form #Fe^(2+)# which is:

#[Ar]3d^(6)#

Iron has 8 valence electrons and its most common oxidation states are +2 and +3. In non of these does it attain a noble gas configuration.

This is because is because the octet "rule" is a rule and not a law so is not applicable in all cases. In fact it only applies to a limited number of elements.

Related questions
Impact of this question
9740 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License