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28 votes
Atoms of oxygen have a total of 8 electrons. Are these atoms stable, and why or why not?.

User Paul A Jungwirth
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1 Answer

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23 votes

Answer:

these atoms are stable because a stable atom has a net charge of 0. In other words, it has an equal number of protons and electrons. The positive protons cancel out the negative electrons. In this question they mention that the number of electrons is 8, now if we see the proton/atomic number of oxygen, it is also 8. Therefore, the net charge becomes zero and hence the atoms are stable.

hope that helps..

User Manishika
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