valence

Measure of an element's combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules

Also known as valency

Instance of: natural phenomenon
1
Sources
1.goldbook.iupac.org/html/V/V06588.html
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Subclass of: dimensionless quantity

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In chemistry, the valence or valency of an atom is a measure of its combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules. Valence is generally understood to be the number of chemical bonds that each atom of a given chemical element typically forms. Double bonds are considered to be two bonds, triple bonds to be three, quadruple bonds to be four, quintuple bonds to be five and sextuple bonds to be six. In most compounds, the valence of hydrogen is 1, of oxygen is 2, of nitrogen is 3, and of carbon is 4. Valence is not to be confused with the related concepts of the coordination number, the oxidation state, or the number of valence electrons for a given atom.

Overview

All data

38 statements · 21% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Studied by: chemistry
ISQ dimension: 1
Quantity symbol (LaTeX): z
Different from: Valence
valence

On other databases

28 identifiers linking valence across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

21%

externally sourced

Source last edited July 26, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). valence (Q171407). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/valence-Q171407