Ionization energy metallic character

Atomic radius refers to metallic radius for metals and covalent radius for nonmetals. Ionization energies refer to first ionization energy. Metallic character relates generally to the ability to lose electrons, and nonmetallic character to the ability to gain electrons. 

The low ionization energies of elements at the lower left of the periodic table account for their metallic character. A block of metal consists of a collection of cations of the element surrounded by a sea of valence electrons that the atoms have lost (Fig. 1.53). Only elements with low ionization energies—the members of the s block, the d block, the f block, and the lower left of the p block—can form metallic solids, because only they can lose electrons easily. 

The valence electron configuration of the atoms of the Group 2 elements is ns1. The second ionization energy is low enough to be recovered from the lattice enthalpy (Fig. 14.18). Flence, the Group 2 elements occur with an oxidation number of +2, as the cation M2+, in all their compounds. Apart from a tendency toward nonmetallic character in beryllium, the elements have all the chemical characteristics of metals, such as forming basic oxides and hydroxides. 

Summarize the trend in metallic character, and compare it to the trends for atomic size and ionization energy. 

The formation of a metal structure from free atoms must be associated with ionization, from which it follows that a high ionization energy in an element prevents it. Metallic properties are therefore found in the alkali- and alkaline-earth elements. Boron, the first element in the third group, is hardly metallic in this group the element with the smallest ionic radius loses its metallic character. 

The hydrides HM(PF3)4, M = Co, Rh, Ir, possess a structure simUar to that of HCo(CO)4. In C3v skeletal symmetry the filled metal orbitals are of symmetry e(2), the Rh-H a bond transforms as a, and the metal-phosphorus a bonds span the irreducible representations a,(2) + e. Three low-energy peaks (Table XXIX) (169, 227) have been detected in the UPS of HCo(PF3)4, and overlapping of ionization occurs with the Rh and Ir compounds (Fig. 28). While the assignments cannot be regarded as definitive at the present time, the first two peaks in the UPS of HCo(PF3)4 probably correspond to the two 2E ionic states of predominant metal character. 

MO % metal 3d character 92% of computed eigenvalue, eV ASCF Computed relaxation energy, eV Experimental ionization energy, eV... 

The group 4A elements exemplify the increase in metallic character down a group in the periodic table Carbon is a nonmetal silicon and germanium are semimetals and tin and lead are metals. The usual periodic trends in atomic size, ionization energy, and electronegativity are evident in the data of Table 19.4. 

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