What is happening
You arrive at a materials lab predicting how a salt will bond.
The bonding prediction keeps failing. The sample is chlorine — 17 electrons total, 10 locked in inner shells — and the outer-shell count is wrong.
Core + valence
23e⁻
Total electrons
17e⁻
Core + valence is over by 6 e⁻
Atom builder. Valence electrons at 13 e⁻. Core + valence 23 e⁻, Total electrons 17 e⁻. Currently core + valence is over by 6 e⁻.
What is happening
You arrive at a materials lab predicting how a salt will bond.
The bonding prediction keeps failing. The sample is chlorine — 17 electrons total, 10 locked in inner shells — and the outer-shell count is wrong.