Sulfur has 16 electrons and 6 valence electrons. what will its oxidation number be?

–2

Explanation:

Data obtained from the question:

Number of electron = 16

Valence electron = 6

Now, let us write the electronic configuration for sulphur. This is illustrated below:

1s2 2s22p6 3s23p4

From the above, we can see that sulphur will be needing 2 extra electrons to complete its octet configuration. Therefore, the oxidation number of the sulphur will be –2.

The minus sign indicate that the sulphur will accept 2 electrons to complete its octet configuration

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