Is hydrogen the only element to react to produce a duet of valence electrons?

1 Answer
Jan 10, 2015

No. The "duet rule" also pertains to the elements lithium and beryllium, both of which lose their 2s electrons when undergoing chemical reactions, giving them the noble gas configuration of helium, #"1s"^2"#. This results in the #"Li"^+"# ion and the #"Be"^(2+)"# ion.

Here'a a link to another answer a contributor posted on this subject:

http://socratic.org/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-the-octet-rule-and-the-duet-rule