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In Chemistry / Middle School | 2014-10-22

Will bromine react with sodium, and why?

Asked by itsjenny

Answer (3)

When you write down the electronic configuration of bromine and sodium, you get this
Na: Br:
So here we the know the valence electrons for each;
Na: (2e) Br: (7e, you don't count for the d orbitals)
Then, once you know this, you can deduce how many bonds each can do and you discover that bromine can do one bond since he has one electron missing in his p orbital, but that weirdly, since the s orbital of sodium is full and thus, should not make any bond.
However, it is possible for sodium to come in an excited state in wich he will have sent one of its electrons on an higher shell to have this valence configuration:

where here now it has two lonely valence electrons, one on the s and the other on the p, so that it can do a total of two bonds. That's why bromine and sodium can form

Answered by killianancelgarnier | 2024-06-10

Yes, bromine will react with sodium to form sodium bromide. This is because sodium is a highly reactive metal and bromine is a reactive non-metal; they readily react with each other to form an ionic compound. In this reaction, sodium is oxidized, going from an oxidation state of 0 to +1, and bromine is reduced, changing from 0 to -1.
Elemental bromine can be generated by reacting sodium bromide, NaBr, with elemental chlorine, Cl2. This chemical reaction creates two products: bromine gas, Br2, and sodium chloride, NaCl. When hot sodium metal comes into contact with bromine gas, an energetic reaction occurs, producing sodium bromide, NaBr. The reaction is characterized by the emission of an orange flame and results in the formation of a white solid, which is the sodium bromide.

Answered by AngelinaGermanotta | 2024-06-24

Bromine will react with sodium because sodium can donate its single valence electron to bromine, resulting in the formation of sodium bromide (NaBr). This is a typical ionic reaction where the transfer of electrons creates oppositely charged ions that bond together. The reaction can be summarized by the equation: 2Na + Br₂ → 2NaBr.
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Answered by killianancelgarnier | 2024-10-09