Both of Mercury’s valence electrons reside in the atom’s 6s shell. An electron in an atom’s outermost shell is a valence electron. Valence electrons are capable of forming chemical bonds with the valence electrons of other atoms.

Mercury’s electron configuration can be utilised to calculate the number of valence electrons. The arrangement of electrons is represented by the formula 1s2 2s2p6 3s2p6d10 4s2p6d10f14 5s2p6d10 6s2. The initial digit of each section represents the energy level. The greater the energy level, the greater the distance between the orbital and the atom’s nucleus. The letter s specifies the type of shell at the sixth energy level, while the number two indicates that this outermost shell contains two electrons.