The word valence is a term that is used frequently in the chemical area. Etymologically this word began to come to light in the years 1543 and comes from the Latin “courage” which means “strength, capacity”. In chemistry this term is used to refer to the number of electrons that an element has and its connection with others to give rise to a compound. There are two types of valences: the maximum positive valence and the negative valence.
The maximum positive valence refers to the positive figure that reflects how high is the percentage of combination of an element, this figure must coincide with the number that this element has within the group of the periodic table, for example oxygen (o) belongs to group 7 of the table therefore its maximum positive valence is 7.
Negative valence refers to the negative figure that shows us what the possibilities of an element may be to combine with another of positive valence. This negative digit can be obtained by calculating what is missing from the maximum positive valence to reach the octet (8), but with a negative sign (-). For example, the maximum positive valence of the element oxygen (o) is 7 so it still lacks one (1) element to reach the octet (8), so its negative valence is -1.
The valence in physical education refers to all those aspects that describe the physical conditions of an individual. These valences are classified as follows: Strength, Power, Speed, Flexibility, Coordination and anaerobic resistance.
In biology, valence is used to refer to the willingness of an antibody to be combined with antigen.
In the area of psychology, it has been determined that when an individual feels attraction to something, it is said that it has a positive valence, but if, on the contrary, the individual has aversion for that object, then we say that it has a negative valence. This definition is also used to catalog the feelings or emotions of people. Sadness, fear, hatred, have negative valence. While joy, enthusiasm, have positive valence.
