The number of valence electrons in cadmium (Cd) is 2. This is because cadmium is in group 12 of the periodic table, where elements typically have two electrons in their outermost shell.
To understand this better, we can look at cadmium’s electron configuration. The electron configuration for cadmium is [Kr] 5s2. This shows that cadmium has its outermost electrons in the 5s orbital and these 5s electrons are the valence electrons. Valence electrons are crucial as they determine how an element interacts with other elements, especially during chemical bonding.