I get that in the first shell there are 2 electrons and then 8 in the next, but when can an atom have more that 8 electrons in its shells?

1 Answer
Feb 26, 2018

In its third shell or more.

Explanation:

A simple rule to follow, is that if n is the shell of an electron (energy level), it can hold a maximum of 2n^2 electrons.

So, we can setup an equation to show this:

2n^2>8

n^2>4

n>2 (since n>0)

So, after the second shell, the atom can hold more than 8 electrons.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_shell