Beta, in our village school, we teach the children to find these answers from the periodic table chart on the wall. For sulphur, atomic number 16, you count electrons across the periods: 2,8,6—so valency is 2. For calcium, number 20, it is 2,8,8,2—so valency 2.
But I tell them, these numbers are like the measurements for a suit; the true test is how it fits in a reaction, just as my stitches hold only if the cloth is good.
Every afternoon, I watch them practice writing these configurations on slates, their chalk tapping like my sewing machine, and I think even the simplest tools can build strong understanding, ji. Now, shall I explain again, or shall we both take a chai break for these old bones?
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