"Chemical properties: so let's put something up as a hypothesis. Let's say, well, maybe it has to do with the energy that it takes to remove electrons. And, one other thing that I failed to point out, if you take a look at the energies associated with the outermost electrons, in this case, lithium, you see it's 0.5 megajoules per mole, and then what's the 6.26? That's associated with one, n equals one, inner shell.

There is a huge difference between the energies in the outermost shell and the inner shells, which tells you that it's unlikely that any electrons except those in the outermost shell are going to be active..."