Why does the octet rule apply primarily to main-group elements, n...

Question

Why does the octet rule apply primarily to main-group elements, not to transition metals?

Accepted Answer

well, everyone in this video, we're trying to explain why the octet rule applies to elements of the main group, but not to transition metals. So the octet rule states that the main group elements tend to react. So they obtain a noble gas electron configuration with filled S and P orbital's. A total of eight electrons. That's just the octet rule. So in there and we want those eight electrons in their valence electron shelves. So the transition metals are characterized by partially filled the orbital's and that can be used to expand their valence shell. And that's beyond the normal octet um number of eight electrons. And there are some rules in chemistry that are not hard restrictions and that's one of them being the octet rule, but not the joy roll. So there are some again there are some rules in chemistry that are just meant to be broken and violated as well. And we can see later in chemistry that those rules will be broken. But for now we go ahead simply say that the main group elements will follow this octet rule while transition metals do not so formally then our answer to this question is that the octet rule doesn't apply to transition metals because they have partially filled D orbital's which can accommodate additional electrons. So this right here is going to be my final answer for this problem

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