the.com/valence
chemistry's dating profile: how many bonds an atom is willing to commit to.
means The combining power of an element — the number of chemical bonds an atom can form — and, by extension in psychology, the intrinsic attractiveness or aversiveness of a thing.
from From Latin 'valentia,' meaning strength or capacity, from 'valere,' to be strong or be worth (the same root that gives us 'valiant,' 'value,' and 'valor'). Chemists borrowed it in the 19th century to describe an atom's bonding 'power,' and psychologists later lifted the same word to measure how strongly something pulls us toward it or pushes us away.
- origin
- From Latin valentia, meaning strength or capacity.
- carbon's charm
- Valence of four makes life's molecules possible.
- noble snub
- Full shells give noble gases zero valence.
- psych borrow
- Emotions have valence too: positive or negative.
- electron count
- Outermost electrons decide an atom's bonding budget.
valence france — city in southeastern france on the rhône river, population ~130,000
valence spain — autonomous community and city on spain's mediterranean coast, population ~1.6 million metro area