If oxygen has 6 electrons on its outer shell and copper has 3 how does oxygen and copper react to gether to give oxygen a full outer shell? Are two copper atoms needed for an oxygen atom? Please explain and thanks.
Cu2O3 oxygen wants to fill up its outer shell to make 8 electron... copper being a metal would lose the three. If theres 3 oxygens, then you need 6 electrons. 2 copper would give you those 6 electrons making Cu2O3 which is copper oxide
Copper oxide is usually CuO but Cu2O can also exist, since copper ions are either monovalent or divalent. In either case, the transfer is by contact, not some remote transfer like lightning. The transfer takes place, because both the copper and the oxygen gain stability, oxygen by completing its octet to form O= , and copper to form either Cu+ or Cu+2. I don't know who told you copper has three valence electrons, by the way. It has 2 and they are either both in the 4s subshell, or 1 is in the 4s subshell and 1 completes the 3d subshell. Either way, only a maximum of 2 are lost in standard chemical reactions.
