Answer:
10
Explanation:
The atomic number of Nickel is 28: this means that a neutral atom of nickel has 28 electrons.
The electronic configuration of nickel is:
[tex]1s^22s^22p^63s^23p^64s^23d^8[/tex]
abbreviated, this is written as
[tex][Ar]4 s^2 3d^8[/tex]
where [tex][Ar][/tex] represents the electronic configuration of argon. This means that all the shells until [tex]3p^6[/tex] are completed, while the outermost shell:
[tex]4s^2 3d^8[/tex]
is the one that gives us the number of valence electrons. Since there are 2 electrons in the 4s orbital and 8 electrons in the 3d orbital, the total number of valence electrons is
2 + 8 = 10
