Answer to Question #209041 in General Chemistry for emmanuel kazeya

Question

1.Explain the trend with reasons in the atomic radii and ionization energy of atoms
(A) As you move left to right within the same period
(B) As you move from top to the bottom within the same group

Answer 1

a) Moving left to right within a period or upward within a group, the first ionization energy generally increases. As the atomic radius decreases, it becomes harder to remove an electron that is closer to a more positively charged nucleus.

b) From the top to bottom down a group, electronegativity decreases. This is because atomic number increases down a group, and thus there is an increased distance between the valence electrons and nucleus, or a greater atomic radius.