Reacting with other elements

The reactivity of T-metals to other non T-metal elements varies widely. They are largely found in nature bonded with oxygen as oxides. The reactivity toward bonding with oxygen tends to decrease moving left to right along the table, but there are some abnormalities to this rule. 

The transition metals form carbides, nitrides, and borides with nonstoi-chiometric ratios. Some of these materials are interstitial compounds, which means there are large gaps in between the metal atoms that can be filled by other small elements such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. When interstitial compounds form, the additional atoms are locked into place in the metal framework, making these materials stronger than the metal by itself. This is important in a number of industrial applications such impregnating a small amount of carbon into an iron matrix in order to make steel. 

Interstitial compounds are one way in which the hydrogen economy can be realized because the hydrogen can both get into and back out of the gaps of some T-metal compounds quite readily. These materials used in the hydrogen economy are Imown as metal hydrides. 

T-metals also have a tendency to form compounds in the solid state, whereby the tendency to form cationic compounds decreases from left to right along the series. 

A coordination compound is a compound that has a metal atom at its center, surrounded by a group of molecules attached by coordinate covalent chemistry. 

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Liquid helium is inert, colourless, odourless, non-corrosive and non-flammable. Helium will not react with other elements or compounds under ordinary conditions. Helium is the most interesting element and the most used in cryogenics. 

Noble metals—refers to several unreactive metals that do not easily dissolve in acids or oxidize in air (e.g., platinum, gold, and mercury). They include the platinum group of metals (see next item). They are called noble because of their resistance to reacting with other elements. 

Although tin is located in group 14 as a metalloid, it retains one of the main characteristics of metals in reacting with other elements, it gives up electrons, forming positive ions just as do all metals. 

The noble gases are described as noble because they seem to consider it beneath themselves to react with other elements. Because these elements have completely filled valence shells, they have no energetic reason to react. They re already as stable as they can be. 

Another factor which determines the presence of minerals at certain depths is the tendency to combine with others or affinity of minerals and elements. Noble gases hardly react with other elements and will, because of their low densities, consequently end up in the atmosphere. Relatively light elements (alkaline and alkaline earth metals) with a strong affinity for oxygen are found in the silicate schaal. Heavy elements which are bound to sulphur or oxgen are situated in the sulphide /oxide scale, or even deeper in the nickel/iron scale. 

Incineration can be applied to all contaminants that have high heat content. It eliminates odor and leachate problems, which are usually associated with landfills, but metals can react with other elements in the feed stream, such as chlorine or sulfur, and form more volatile and toxic compounds. The process has high maintenance and operation costs. Straitz et al. (1995) reported that incineration is a reliable, cost-effective approach to treat VOCs and a wide range of objectionable gas. Chaouki et al. (1995) conducted experiments that examined the effect of fluidized bed combustion on the properties and characteristics of a soil contaminated with PCBs. Particle size distribution and PCB contents were determined before and after a 30-minute incineration. The incineration promoted agglomeration soil, increases in soil pH, and decreases in the PCB content to undetectable levels. 

Another way to look at the periodic table is to divide the elements into metals, nonmetals, and metalloids. Most of the elements in the table are metals. Metals are usually shiny and can be bent, hammered, or pulled into many different shapes without breaking into pieces. Metals are also good conductors, which means that heat and electricity can pass through them easily. Metals tend to give up electrons when they react with other elements. From this information, one could guess that most metals are found on the left side of the table, where the valence electron shells are mostly empty. 

Nonmetals are not good conductors of electricity. They tend to gain or share electrons when they react with other elements, which places them closer to the right side of the table, where valence electron shells are full or almost full. 

Metalloids are sometimes called semiconductors. These elements can conduct electricity, although not as well as metals. They may gain or lose electrons when they react with other elements. The most famous semiconductor element is silicon, which is used to make computer chips. Metalloids are found between metals and nonmetals on the periodic table. 

Lithium insertion negative electrodes — (i) Some transition-metal oxides or chalcogenides insert Li ion reversibly at low redox potentials, for example, TiC>2, LL I iOy, M0S2, M0O2. (ii) Lithium alloys - in this case lithium ions, react with other elements polarized to low potentials to reversibly form Li alloys. The reaction usually proceeds reversibly according to the... 

Which of the following chemical groups are least likely to react with other elements ... 

Noble metal— A metal that does not readily react with other elements and that, therefore, normally occurs in nature in a free, or uncombined, state. 

Cerium is a gray metal that easily reacts with other elements. It is used in making a number of different alloys, in the production of many kinds of specialty glass, and in the chemical industry. 

Europium is the most active of the lanthanoids. It is more likely to react with other elements than the other rare earth elements. 

The term noble gas refers to elements in Group 18 (VIIIA) of the periodic table. The periodic table is a chart that shows how chemical elements are related to each other. These gases have been given the name noble because they act as if they are too arrogant to react with other elements. Until the 1960s, no compound of these gases was known. Since they are so inactive, they are also called the inert gases. Inert means inactive. 

Nitrogen gas is used where an inert atmosphere is needed. An inert atmosphere is one that does not contain active elements. Ordinary air is not an inert atmosphere. It contains oxygen. Oxygen tends to react with other elements. 

An easy solution to that problem is to use nitrogen instead of ordinary air in the lightbulb. Nitrogen does not react with other elements very well, even when they get hot. The filament can get very hot, but the metal of which it is made will not combine with nitrogen gas. The nitrogen gas is an inert atmosphere for the bulb. 

In Chapter 10, you learned that a chemical reaction can usually be classified as one of five types—synthesis, decomposition, combustion, single-replacement, or double-replacement. In this chapter, you ll investigate a special characteristic of many of these reactions— the ability of elements to gain or lose electrons when they react with other elements. You experimented with this characteristic when you did the DISCOVERY LAB. 

Because nitrogen and phosphorus are both nonmetallic elements in group 15 on the periodic table, we expect them to react with other elements in similar ways. To some extent, they do, but there are also distinct differences in their chemical behavior. For example, nitrogen atoms form stable triple bonds to carbon atoms in substances such as hydrogen cyanide (often called hydrocyanic acid), FiCN. Phosphorus atoms also form triple bonds to carbon atoms, in substances such... 

Explain why nitrogen does not react with other elements under normal temperature conditions. 

They were called the inert gases, because it was thought j that they would not react with other elements. Helium and I Neon are not known to com-I bine with other elements. How-j ever, compounds of the higher members of the noble gas I group have been found, this is i due to the presence of d orbit- als (e.g. xenon tetrafluoride and I krypton difluoride). 

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