Before we start, it might be good to gain a basic understanding of what liberties are. Take a look at Liberty - introductory.
For game aficionados, we can see the number of liberties a stone or chain has as its life bar or hit points. For this exact reason, liberties are also called "breathing spaces". When your stone or chain runs out of space to breathe, it suffocates and dies. Conversely, the more liberties a stone or chain has, the stronger it is, and the harder it will be to kill.
SINGLE STONE
The maximum number of liberties a single stone may have is 4. In some ways, a single stone is a truly powerful entity. When most stones hit the board, they will have full vitality with 4 liberties.