Chemical properties periodic trends

General similarities and trends in the chemical properties of the elements had been noticed increasingly since the end of the eighteenth century and predated the observation of periodic variations in physical properties which were not noted until about 1868. However, it is more convenient to invert this order and to look at trends in atomic and physical properties first. 

Other periodic trends which occur in the chemical properties of the elements and which are discussed in more detail throughout later chapters are ... 

The alkali metals form a homogeneous group of extremely reactive elements which illustrate well the similarities and trends to be expected from the periodic classification, as discussed in Chapter 2. Their physical and chemical properties are readily interpreted in terms of their simple electronic configuration, ns, and for this reason they have been extensively studied by the full range of experimental and theoretical techniques. Compounds of sodium and potassium have been known from ancient times and both elements are essential for animal life. They are also major items of trade, commerce and chemical industry. Lithium was first recognized as a separate element at the beginning of the nineteenth eentury but did not assume major industrial importance until about 40 y ago. Rubidium and caesium are of considerable academic interest but so far have few industrial applications. Francium, the elusive element 87, has only fleeting existence in nature due to its very short radioactive half-life, and this delayed its discovery until 1939. 

The physical and chemical properties of the elements show regular periodic trends that can be explained using electron configurations and nuclear charges. We focus on the physical properties of the elements in this section. A preliminary discussion of the chemical properties of some of the elements appears in Section Other chemical properties are discussed after we introduce the principles of chemical bonding in Chapters 9 and 10. 

It is important to be familiar with periodic trends in physical and chemical properties, but it is just as important to understand the principles that give rise to these trends. Example shows how to analyze trends in terms of the underlying principles. 

Periodic trends in ionization energy are linked to trends involving the reactivity of metals. In general, the chemical reactivity of metals increases down a group and decreases across a period. These trends, as well as a further trend from metallic to non-metallic properties across a period, and increasing metallic properties down a group, are shown in Table 3.1. 

R. J. Puddephatt and P. K. Monaghan, The Periodic Table of the Elements, 2nd edn., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986. A concise description of the structure of the Periodic Table and a discussion of periodic trends of many physical and chemical properties of the elements. 

This section concentrates on physical and chemical properties, and deals mainly with aquo complexes. The intention is to focus on trends, particularly in relation to the Periodic Table, which will not be apparent in later volumes with their metal-oriented arrangement. Trends in stability constants and in kinetic properties, both substitution and redox, of aquo ions are covered in Chapters 7 and 9 in Volume 1. 

The outermost electrons, often called the valence electrons, are primarily responsible for the chemical properties of the elements. It follows that the elements in a specific group will show similar characteristic oxidation numbers (charges, also called valences) and display a trend in characteristics. Even though electron configurations were not known when the earliest periodic tables were formulated, the elements were placed by similarity of characteristics. 

What are the relationships among periodic trends, types of chemical bonds, and properties of compounds ... 

How did chemists use trends of physical and chemical properties to arrange elements in a periodic table ... 

Tellurium (m.p. 450 °C, density 6.25 g cm-3) is more metallic in its appearance, but it is not a good electrical conductor as are most metals. Polonium, on the other hand, is typically metallic in its electrical properties. Selenium and tellurium are best regarded as semiconductors, and sulfur is nonmetallic in behavior (an insulator). Thus, the usual trend from nonmetallic to metallic behavior is shown in going down Group VIA of the periodic table. All of these elements differ substantially from oxygen in their chemical properties. 

Periodic trends and the chemical and physical properties of the elements... 

The immense number of chemical compounds formed by the halogens provides chemists with an extraordinary database from which numerous chemical and physical phenomena can be correlated with respect to various periodic trends. From databases like Inorganic Crystal Structure Data (ICSD, http //www.fiz-karlsruhe.de ) and International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD, http //www.icdd.com) with 67 000 and 25 000 entries, respectively, one can easily make out that halides are one of the dominant classes of compounds besides oxides. Even within the subset of inorganic solids, there is tremendous diversity of composition, stracture, and properties and to summarize this would create its own encyclopedia. Therefore, the discussion in this article is limited primarily to binary halides, their structures, and some of their properties, except halides of elements which are nonmetals. Binary actinide hahdes are discnssed elsewhere see Actinides Inorganic Coordination Chemistry). Complex hahdes (sohd phases containing two or more kinds of metal ions), ... 

Iron, cobalt, and nickel, with atomic numbers 26, 27, and 28, lie in the center of the first long period, and are described, with their congeners, the platinum metals, as group VIII of the periodic table. They show a. trend in their chemical properties, forming a transition from the metals chromium and manganese, which may assume several oxidation states, and whose higher oxides are acidic, to the more basic and less chemically versatile metals copper and zinc. 

In this section, we introduce Hartree s method and use it to describe the electron arrangements and energy levels in many-electron atoms. Later sections detail how this approximate description rationalizes periodic trends in atomic properties and serves as a starting point for descriptions of chemical bond formation. 

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