What states that atoms tend to gain, lose or share electrons until they are surrounded by eight valence electrons?

1 Answer
Aug 27, 2016

The #"octet rule"#, which is more a rule of thumb than an actual chemical principle.

Explanation:

Main-group elements tend to form compounds in which the participating atoms are surrounded by #"8 electrons"#. There are many exceptions to the rule, but often we can rationalize the chemistry of the exceptions in terms of filling the valence shell of the participating atoms with 8 electrons.