Physical properties oxygen family elements

A second reason for the vast number of organic compounds is that carbon atoms can form stable bonds with other elements. Several families of organic compounds (alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, and ethers) contain oxygen atoms bonded to carbon. Others contain nitrogen, sulfur, or halogens. The presence of these elements confers a wide variety of new chemical and physical properties on an organic compound. 

Similar to the other groups that have been presented, group 16 (VI A) (the chal-cogens or the oxygen family) starts with an element whose physical properties and chemical reactivity do not resemble those of the rest of the group. Here also, the metallic character increases down the group oxygen and sulphur are nonmetals, selenium and tellurium are considered metalloids (they are referred to as a metal when in elemental form), while radioactive polonium is classified either as a post-transitional metal or metalloid (Hawkes 2010 Bentor 2011). 

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