Can some one please explain how valence electrons relate to bonding?

Question

Also, what are oxidation numbers? And one last thing, How do families relate to valence electrons? Thank you SO much!

Answer 1

Valence electrons are the outer level electrons. An atom wants to have a total of 8 valence electrons to be similar to a noble gas. Atoms will lose, gain, or share electrons to achieve a total of 8 valence electrons - called an octet.

Oxidation numbers are the charge we assign to different atoms in a molecule by comparing the atoms which are bonded.

The family number tells you have many valence electrons are in the atoms of that family. 1A has 1, 2A has 2, 3A has and so on up to 8A with 8.