How to Find the Valence Electrons for Argon (Ar)

There are two ways to find the number of valence electrons in Argon (Ar). The first is to use the Periodic Table to figure out how many electrons Argon has in its valence shell. To do so, look at the Group number (groups are the columns). Argon is in Group 18 (also called 8A) and therefore Argon eight valence electrons (note that this method doesn’t work for the Transition Metals). Because Argon has eight valence electrons its outer shell is full, and it is considered a Noble Gas. You can also look at the electron configuration to determine the number of valence electrons for Argon. The number of electrons in the highest energy level gives you the number of valence electrons. Using this method we’ll also determine that Argon has eight valence electrons. Helpful videos: Another element with the same number of valence electrons as Argon is Neon. Drawing/writing done in InkScape. Screen capture done with Camtasia Studio 4.0. Done on a Dell Dimension laptop computer with a Wacom digital tablet (Bamboo).