chemcheat

Lead (Pb)

Element 82 · post-transition metal · group 14, period 6

Lead shell diagram: 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 4 electronsPb82
Electron shells, 2 + 8 + 18 + 32 + 18 + 4. The outer shell is highlighted - it is the only one that takes part in bonding.

Lead is element 82, a post-transition metal in group 14 and period 6. Its electron configuration is [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p2. That leaves 4 valence electrons in the outer shell, with the shells filling 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 4. With 4 to gain and 4 to lose it is equally far from either, so it shares electrons in covalent bonds rather than forming ions. The charges listed for it, +2, +4, are oxidation states rather than charges it usually carries.

Properties

Atomic number82
SymbolPb
Standard atomic weight207.2 u
Group14
Period6
Blockp-block
Categorypost-transition metal
Electron configuration1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d10 6s2 6p2
Noble-gas notation[Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p2
Electrons per shell2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 4
Valence electrons4
Common ionic charge+2, +4
Electronegativity (Pauling)2.33
Protons / electrons82 / 82

Electron configuration of lead

Orbitals fill from the lowest energy upward. Writing that out for lead gives 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d10 6s2 6p2, which is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d10 6s2 6p2 in plain text.

Everything up to Xe is the same as in that noble gas, so it is usually abbreviated to [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p2. The part outside the bracket is what does the chemistry.

SubshellElectronsCapacity
1s 2 2
2s 2 2
2p 6 6
3s 2 2
3p 6 6
3d 10 10
4s 2 2
4p 6 6
4d 10 10
4f 14 14
5s 2 2
5p 6 6
5d 10 10
6s 2 2
6p 2 6

Lead ion charge

Lead commonly forms ions with a charge of +2, +4.

It has 4 valence electrons, which puts it exactly as far from an empty outer shell as from a full one. Neither route is shorter, so it does not hand electrons over at all - it shares them, which is why it forms 4 covalent bonds. The values above are oxidation states rather than charges it normally carries.

Common questions

How many valence electrons does lead have?

Lead has 4 valence electrons. For a main-group element the count is the group number minus 10, and lead is in group 14.

What is the electron configuration of lead?

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d10 6s2 6p2, or [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p2 written from the previous noble gas. Orbitals fill lowest energy first.

What is the charge of lead?

Lead commonly forms ions with a charge of +2, +4. With 4 valence electrons it is exactly as far from an empty shell as from a full one, so neither route is shorter and it shares electrons instead. Those values are oxidation states, not charges it normally carries.

How many protons, electrons and neutrons does lead have?

A neutral lead atom has 82 protons and 82 electrons. Its standard atomic weight is 207.2, so the most common isotope has about 125 neutrons.

See the ionic charge of every element →

How this page was produced. The configuration was built by filling orbitals in energy order from atomic number 82 alone, not looked up. The shell counts, the valence count and the charge all follow from it. Nothing on this page is written per element.