Transcript: Honors Chemistry

Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends

Scene 1
In this program, you will learn about one of the most important tools in chemistry: The Periodic
Table of the Elements. Each element is made of a particular type of atom, which differs from the atoms
of any other element. The Periodic Table displays the known elements according to the composition of
their atoms, or atomic structure. Furthermore, the Periodic Table organizes the elements in a way that
shows periodicity, or uniform and predictable changes. This periodic arrangement allows trends in
properties of the elements to easily be determined.

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This journey into the Periodic Table will demonstrate that you dont have to memorize facts
about each element to understand many of their properties. Just knowing how the Periodic Table is
arranged allows access to a wealth of knowledge about every known element. You will learn about the
origin of the Periodic Table, why its important, and how its organized. You will also learn what an
elements specific position in the table signifies, and how to predict trends in properties of the elements.

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Before learning specific details about the Periodic Table, its important to understand its
significance. There are over 100 elements, and each has a variety of specific properties, such as the
size of its atoms, its likelihood to form bonds, and so on. The Periodic Table organizes elements in
much the same way a music store organizes music. If the store simply placed the music of different
artists in a large rack in no particular order, it would be very hard to locate the recording with the
specific songs you wanted to hear. You might have to look through the entire store to find the work of
one particular artist. However, if the music store organized their inventory by artist, type of music, or in
some other fashion, you would spend much less time searching. Similarly, the Periodic Table organizes
elements in a logical fashion. However, in addition to providing order, the Periodic Table also provides
a great deal of information about each element.

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The Periodic Table arranges elements according to their atomic structure. A brief review of
atomic structure will acquaint you with some of the terms used in this program. Atoms consist of
positively charged particles called protons, neutral particles called neutrons, and negatively charged
particles called electrons. The protons and neutrons are found together and collectively make up an
atoms nucleus. Electrons travel around the nucleus in various shells that relate to different energy
levels. The arrangement of electrons in an atom is referred to as the electron configuration. Electron
configurations can be determined from the Periodic Table, as youll learn shortly. The Periodic Table
arranges elements by a sequentially increasing number of protons, and the elements are presented in
their atomic, electrically neutral states. Therefore, there are exactly as many negatively charged
electrons orbiting the nucleus of each atom as there are positively charged protons in the nucleus. This
allows both the number of protons and the number of electrons to be determined simply by looking at
the position of the element on the Periodic Table.

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Though todays Periodic Table arranges elements according to their atomic structure more
specifically by the number of protons the first periodic tables were not arranged as efficiently. They
were based primarily on the chemical behavior of the elements known at the time, and also took into
account the atomic masses of the elements. You may already know that atomic mass represents the
collective weight of all the protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom. However, when atomic masses
were used in developing the first periodic tables, the existence of the particles in the nucleus had not
yet been determined. In the next scene, you will learn how atomic masses for elements were
determined before chemists had identified particles in the nucleus.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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Atomic mass is a relative value, meaning that it is based on differences between elements
rather than a value actually measured for a single element. Atomic masses are determined by
comparing the ratio of atoms in a compound with the weight of each elements atoms remaining after
the compound is broken down into its constituent elements. For example, hydrogen and fluorine
combine to form hydrogen fluoride in a 1:1 ratio. However, when hydrogen fluoride is broken down into
the atoms that make up the compound, the amount of fluorine left is 19 times heavier than the
remaining hydrogen. This can only occur if each fluorine atom weighs 19 times as much as each
hydrogen atom. Based on this system, hydrogen would have a relative mass of one unit, and fluorine
would have a relative mass of 19 units. The atomic masses presented in the modern Periodic Table are
determined in a similar manner. A more formal definition of atomic mass will be presented later, but for
now it will suffice to know that carbon has a mass of 12 and hydrogen, which is twelve times lighter, has
an atomic mass of one.

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In the next few scenes, you will learn the role that atomic mass plays in the history of the
Periodic Table of the Elements. Elements are pure substances. They cannot be separated into simpler
substances. Some elements, such as gold, copper, and silver, have been known to be pure since
ancient times. Others, however, had to be separated from compounds before they could be identified.
In the early 1800s, advances in scientific techniques allowed scientists to identify more and more
elements, and they begin to accumulate numbers for atomic mass and other physical properties.
Eventually a need arose to arrange the elements and the accumulating data into some type of workable
format.

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In the early 1800s, a German chemist named named J.W. Dobereiner produced one of the first
arrangements of the elements. Dobereiner discovered that many of the elements known at the time
could be arranged in groups of three, or triads, in which the middle element showed an atomic mass
that was approximately the average of the other two. For example, calcium, strontium, and barium
formed a triad, and the atomic mass for strontium was approximately the average of the weights of
calcium and barium.

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In 1865, an English chemist named J.A.R. Newlands devised another pattern for organizing the
elements. Newlands arranged the elements in order of increasing atomic mass and suggested there
was a repeating pattern in the properties of every eighth element. The table you seen on the screen is
adapted to show elements in positions similar to those in the modern Periodic Table. Newlands had a
musical background, which presumably led to his naming this pattern The Law of Octaves. He
arranged the elements known at the time into a table with seven elements in each row. The pattern
repeated every eighth element so that the first element was like the eighth, the second like the ninth,
and so on. However, his musical analogy was not well received by a scientific community reluctant to
consider a connection between music and chemistry. More importantly, the physical properties of
several elements did not quite fit his pattern of octaves. Newlands table needed improvement, and this
improvement came several years later with a new arrangement of the elements.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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In 1869, the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev organized elements into a table that became
the basis of the modern Periodic Table. A German chemist, Lothar Meyer, also published a similar
report, but it came a bit later than that of Mendeleev. Consequently, Mendeleev came to be known as
the Father of the Periodic Table. Mendeleev organized the elements according to similarities in their
physical properties to help his chemistry students more easily learn about the elements. He based his
table mainly on atomic masses, but sometimes broke the pattern to place elements in columns
according to periodic similarities in their properties. For instance, although it left gaps in his groups III
and IV, he placed arsenic under phosphorous, because it had similar chemical properties. He also
placed iodine after tellurium, even though the atomic masses were out of sequence. He believed that
the atomic masses of elements that did not fit his pattern had been measured improperly.

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Mendeleev left gaps in his periodic table that he believed represented elements yet to be
discovered. Based on his table, he predicted the existence of at least three elements that were
eventually discovered and which filled some of the gaps. On the screen youll notice some of the
predicted properties of an element he called eka silicon. In 1886, an element that closely fit his
description was discovered in Germany. The element, which was named Germanium instead of eka
silicon, showed that Mendeleevs predictions were correct.

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Although Mendeleevs periodic table correctly showed that elements exhibit properties that vary
in a periodic fashion, he was incorrect on a number of points. First, he was wrong about the elements
that he believed had their atomic mass measured incorrectly; the numbers had been correct. Second,
his periodic table was based on atomic mass. Today, we know that the atomic number, the number of
protons in the nucleus, is a better approach to arranging the elements. This is the reason elements in
Mendeleev's periodic table could not be arranged by sequentially increasing atomic mass. You will
learn how atomic numbers were determined in the following scene.

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In 1913, an English chemist named Henry Moseley discovered he could determine the number
of positive charges in the nucleus by bombarding metals with electrons. This bombardment produced x-
rays with different frequencies for each element he tested, and the frequencies correlated with the
number of positive particles, or protons, in the nucleus. Moseley called the numbers associated with the
positive charges from the protons the atomic number.

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When elements were arranged according to their atomic number, similar periodic trends in their
properties emerged as in Mendeleevs table. However, the table based on atomic number worked
better because patterns didnt need to be broken as Mendeleev had done when he based his table on
atomic mass. Mendeleevs table was a fortunate accident; it had worked because atomic mass
increases with atomic number, but the periodic table should be arranged according to atomic number.
The discovery of atomic number and its benefit in organizing elements led to the modern Periodic Table
and what is known as the Periodic Law, which states: a periodic pattern appears in the physical and
chemical properties of the elements when they are arranged in order of increasing atomic number.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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The modern Periodic Table arranges 109 elements by atomic number into seven horizontal
rows and 18 vertical columns. Elements filling some of the gaps up to number 118 have been created
in laboratories, but names for most of these elements have not been officially accepted. Many of the
Periodic Tables used presently show just elements through number 109, with approved names. Each
element is identified by a one or two letter symbol placed in a box, or tag, containing information about
the element. In addition, some Periodic Tables also show the element name under the symbol.

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Elements are arranged in the Periodic Table according to increasing atomic numbers, which are
typically presented at the top of each element tag. As you learned, the atomic number tells the number
of protons, and since atoms are electrically neutral, the atomic number also equals the number of
electrons. The value at the bottom of each tag depicts the average atomic mass. Earlier you learned
that the atomic mass represents the weight of an atom, including the protons, neutrons, and electrons.
However, the weight of an electron is negligible compared to that of protons and neutrons. In fact, it
would take 1,836 electrons to equal the mass of a single proton, so the atomic mass can be considered
the combined weight of protons and neutrons in an atom.

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Earlier you learned that the atomic mass is a relative value, and that the atomic mass of
hydrogen is 1/12 the weight of a carbon atom. Then why is the atomic mass of carbon 12.01 rather than
12.00? The reason is that an atomic mass unit is based on 1/12 the weight of what is known as the
carbon-12 isotope. Some elements naturally occur as a mixture of isotopes, which are atoms of the
same element that have a different number of neutrons, and therefore a different atomic mass. For
example, most carbon atoms have six protons and six neutrons. This form of carbon is known as
carbon-12, because the six protons and six neutrons add up to 12. However, some carbon isotopes
have six protons and seven neutrons; therefore, they are known as carbon-13. Only around 1% of the
naturally occurring carbon atoms exist in the carbon-13 form. And fewer yet exist as carbon-14, but
their contribution is significant enough that is raises the average atomic mass to 12.01. The atomic
mass values presented in the Periodic Table are an average of the naturally occurring isotopes of each
element.

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The Periodic Table arranges elements into a series of vertical columns called groups and
horizontal rows called periods. As Mendeleev noted, elements in each group show similar chemical
behavior. The shape and length of the periods have significance as well. First youll learn about groups
in the Periodic Table and what they signify, then you will learn about the periods. Finally, youll learn
how the Periodic Table is used to predict trends in physical and chemical properties of the elements.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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The 18 vertical groups of the Periodic Table are numbered according to conventions that differ
throughout the world. In the version used in the United States, the long groups on the left and the right
are labeled 1A through 8A. The short groups in the middle are labeled 1B through 8B. Group 8B spans
the elements iron, cobalt and nickel, and those below them. And groups 1B and 2B are found to the
right of group 8B. In a European version, groups are labeled sequentially from the left as IA through
VIIIA, with VIIIA spanning the elements iron, cobalt, nickel, and those below. The groups to the right of
group VIIIA are labeled IB through VIIIB.
In an attempt to resolve differences in styles, the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry adopted a third system in 1985. The IUPAC system numbers the groups sequentially from 1
18 from the left to right. Throughout the remainder of this program, both the American and IUPAC
group notations will be seen on the Periodic Table, but the audio portion will refer to the American
system.

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Elements in groups 1A through 8A are known as the Representative Elements. Elements in the
B groups at the center of the Periodic Table are known as the Transition Metals. You will learn a bit
more about the significance of the term metal shortly. The elements underneath the Transition Metals
are known as the Inner Transition Elements. The Inner Transition Elements numbered 58 through 71
belong to Period 6, and are called the Lanthanides because they follow the element Lanthanum. The
Inner Transition Metals numbered 90 through 103 belong to Period 7 and are called Actinides, after
Actinium. As you can see from the atomic numbers, these elements belong to the main body of the
Periodic Table. The reason they are generally placed below the main body of the Periodic Table is to
conserve space, allowing the Periodic Table to fit on a single page.

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Among the Representative Elements, the elements in group 1A at the left of the Periodic Table,
excluding hydrogen, are known as the Alkali Metals. These elements tend to form oxygen-containing
compounds that dissolve in water to produce solutions that are strongly alkaline, or basic, on the pH
scale. The group 2A elements are also metals that form alkaline-oxygen compounds. However, these
elements do not dissolve in water as readily as the group 1A elements. Consequently, they are often
found in earthy soil deposits, and are called the Alkaline Earth Metals.

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At the right side of the Periodic Table, elements in groups 7A are collectively known as
Halogens. These highly reactive elements are often found combined with elements as salts. In fact,
the term halogen literally translates to mean salt former. For example, chlorine combines with
sodium, forming the compound sodium chloride, found in common table and sea salt. Further to the
right, elements in group 8A are known as the Noble gases. These elements are chemically stable and
non-reactive. They tend to not gain, lose, or share electrons easily because of their stable electron
configurations, which youll learn more about later. Since these elements are almost completely non-
reactive, in the past they were often called the inert gases.

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There are seven horizontal rows, called periods, in the Periodic Table. Each period represents
the start of a new energy level that is being successively filled with electrons. As the atomic number
increases by one, moving from left to right, each element has one more proton, and thus one more
electron, than the element it follows. The shape of the Periodic Table reflects how these electrons fill
the energy levels and the four types of energy sublevels, known as the s, p, d, and f orbitals. You will
learn more about how electrons fill various types and numbers of orbitals, and how these relate to the
seven periods, in the next scenes.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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The first energy level has a single s orbital. Each orbital can contain a maximum of two
electrons, so Period 1 contains only two elements: hydrogen and helium. In Period 2, electrons are
added to the second energy levels s orbital as well as p orbitals. There are three p orbitals, which are
oriented along three different axes in space. Therefore, Period 2 has two elements with electrons filling
the new s orbital, and six elements with electrons filling the three p orbitals. This explains why there are
eight elements from lithium to neon in Period 2. This same pattern exists for the third energy level in the
third period, which has a total of eight elements from sodium to argon.

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Note the pattern starting to develop and how this relates to the shape of the Periodic Table.
Groups 1A and 2A add electrons in s orbitals and groups 3A through 8A add electrons in p orbitals.
Groups 1A and 2A are therefore known as the s block, and groups 3A through 8A are known as the p
block. Starting in Period 4, the Transition Metals in the B groups represent the filling of d orbitals and
are known as the d block. The Inner Transition Metals belonging to Periods 6 and 7 represent the
filling of f orbitals and are known as the f block elements. The position of most elements in the orbital
blocks can be used to determine electron configurations. Electron configurations are written similarly to
the way in which you write: left to write and top to bottom. Starting at the top left hand side of the
Periodic Table, work your way across the table. Add one new electron for each element into the
respective orbitals along the way. For the first three periods, this is easy, since there are only s and p
orbitals, and they are in the same energy level as the period number. Elements in Periods 4 through 7
have electrons from orbitals in lower energy levels and the sequential filling pattern sometimes varies.
You will learn more about electrons in the s, p, d, and f blocks and how these relate to the various
periods in a couple of scenes.

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The s and p orbitals make up what is known as an elements valence shell and contain what
are known as valence electrons. Valence electrons are those that exist in an atoms highest occupied
energy level. Moving from left to right in the Periodic Table, as energy levels fill, more and more
electrons are added to the valence shell, until two electrons fill the s orbital and six electrons fill the p
orbitals. This is the case with the Noble gases in group 8A. Notice that the group number on the
American version of the Periodic Table shows the number of valence electrons. The Noble gases
therefore contain eight valence electrons, which is known as an octet.

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The octet of electrons in the valence shell of the Noble gases makes them the most stable
elements in the Periodic Table. As you may have learned in other chemistry studies, valence electrons
are important in forming chemical bonds. Elements tend to react and form bonds to achieve an octet of
electrons. Therefore, the octet of valence electrons possessed by Noble gases makes them stable and
non-reactive. Looking at helium, youll notice its the only s block element that is not grouped with the
other s block elements. This is because it has only one s orbital, and the two electrons in the s orbital fill
its valence shell, which is essentially the first periods equivalent to an octet. Helium therefore exhibits
chemical properties of a Noble gas.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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Electron configurations for elements are often depicted as the filled shell of the preceding Noble
gas plus any other electrons that exist beyond the closed shell, as you see on your screen. Each time
an octet is achieved, a valence shell is filled. In each element of the Periodic Table following a Noble
gas, the new electron goes into the next higher energy level corresponding to the s orbital in the next
period. This filled, or closed shell, concept can be visualized as something similar to Russian nesting
dolls, where the smallest doll would represent the Noble gas helium in the first period. The next period
would include the smaller doll plus the larger doll representing the next higher energy level and so on.
Relating this concept to the Periodic Table, there could be seven different dolls, corresponding to the
seven periods and energy levels.

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Moving back to the Periodic Table, periods four and five have s and p orbitals where the fourth
and fifth energy levels as well as d orbitals within the d block. There are five d orbitals. Since each
orbital can contain two electrons, the filling of the five d orbitals in this period represents the ten
transition metals in the d block. Its important to note, in determining electron configurations that
electrons in the d orbitals are not valence electrons, though they are occasionally involved in bonding.
As you can see in the energy diagram, which shows the way electrons fill orbitals, d orbitals in each
period actually belong to the preceding lower energy level. The reason d orbitals belong to a lower
energy level than the period number where they occur relates to quantum mechanics, which is an
interesting topic, but which wont be discussed in this program. For now it will suffice to know that when
determining which d orbital is being filled in a period, you can simply subtract one from the period
number.

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Periods Six and Seven show the same electron filling pattern as the preceding periods with the
addition of new f orbitals, which represent the inner transition series. There are seven different f
orbitals, and again, since each orbital can possess two electrons, there are 14 different elements per
period in the inner transition series, or the f block. Like the d orbitals mentioned in the previous scene,
the f orbitals belong to a lower energy level than the period number. To determine the correct f orbitals
being filled, subtract two from the period number.
To see the electron configuration for any element at any time during this program, simply click
on the periodic table button at the bottom of your screen.

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Now that you understand the arrangement of the Periodic Table, you can learn the trends it
reveals in physical and chemical properties of the elements. By now you have probably noticed several
color variations in the Periodic Table. At room temperature and atmospheric pressure, the elements
depicted in black text are solids. Those in pink are gases, and mercury and bromine, depicted in blue,
are liquids. The color of each element tag background is also significant. The elements colored in blue
are metals. The greenish elements to the right are semimetals, or metalloids. And the pink element tags
at the far right of the Periodic Table are non-metals. Most elements are metals; a few are semimetals,
and a little over a dozen are non-metals.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
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You are probably already familiar with many of the properties of metals. The term metallic
luster describes the shininess of metals. Clean metals are often easy to identify by this property alone.
Metals also conduct electricity and heat. The wires to the lights above your head are mostly likely made
of the metal copper. Electricity travels through copper wire because electrons are passed from one
metal atom to another as the electrical current passes along the line. The heat conducting property of
metals can be demonstrated by touching the hood of a car on a hot or cold day. On a hot day, the metal
hood conducts heat to your hand, which is the reason a car feels so much warmer than a non-metallic
backpack. The hood feels cooler than non-metallic objects on cold days because the metal conducts
heat away from your hand.

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With the exception of mercury, which youll recognize as the silver liquid in many thermometers,
all metals are solids at room temperature. Solid metals are malleable, meaning that they can be
hammered into various shapes or rolled into thin sheets. In addition, metals are ductile, which means
they can be stretched and pulled into wire. Metals are typically hard, though some such as the
alkaline metals are soft enough to be cut with a knife. Also, as you might imagine with such a large
number of elements, their chemical properties vary considerably. Some metals, such as platinum and
gold, are fairly non-reactive; therefore, they wont rust or tarnish as easily as other metals. This
property, along with their rarity and beauty, makes them valuable as jewelry. Other metals are so
reactive that they will react with oxygen or moisture in the air or even on your skin. This is the reason
that metals stored in oils in a lab should never be touched. This video shows just how reactive pure
potassium metal is when it comes into contact with water. Imagine how it might react with the moisture
in your hand.

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You interact with familiar nonmetal compounds and mixtures, such as glass, wood, and stone,
every day. Nonmetal elements play an even more critical role in your life. For instance, the elements
oxygen and nitrogen are the primary components of the air youre breathing as you work through this
program. Nonmetal elements are not malleable or ductile; they do not possess metallic luster, and most
are poor conductors of heat and electricity. Nonmetals vary widely in their properties and reactivity.
Some nonmetals, such as helium, exist as a gas comprised of single atoms. Other nonmetals, such as
fluorine, exist as gasses comprised of diatomic molecules, meaning two atoms are bonded together.
Helium is extremely non-reactive, while elemental fluorine reacts with many elements, including other
fluorine molecules. Elemental bromine is a liquid at room temperature, while other nonmetals, such as
sulfur, are soft solids. Sulfur crumbles when hammered, but the solid diamond form of carbon is the
hardest natural substance known.

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Semimetals, or metalloids, exhibit properties between those of metals and non-metals, which
corresponds to their location between these elements in the Periodic Table. They tend to behave as
non-metals in many respects, but they show some electrical conductivity, which is a characteristic of
metals. However, rather than being electrical conductors, several of the semimetals silicon and
germanium in particular are known as semiconductors. Semiconductors transfer electrical charges
less well than conductors, but better than insulators, which do not conduct electricity. Silicon is the
primary element used in the transistors found in the computer chips allowing you to view this program.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
Scene 36
The arrangement of elements in the Periodic Table shows much more than their increasing
atomic number, electron configurations, physical state, and metallic character. The table youre seeing
on the screen shows the trend in atomic sizes, or radii. Electrons are described by cloud-like orbitals
that tell us the probability of where we might find the electrons. Therefore, determining the radius, or the
exact distance from the center of the atom to its outermost electron, is difficult. However, there are
ways to determine atomic radii. Measuring the distance between two nuclei in a diatomic molecule and
dividing this number by two gives a rough estimate of the radius of each atom. For instance, the
distance between the nuclei in a diatomic bromine molecule is 238 picometers. This value divided by
two gives an atomic radius of 119 picometers for each bromine atom.

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Atomic radii typically increase moving down each group. This trend occurs because new energy
levels extending farther from the nucleus gain electrons as you move down the Periodic Table.
Electrons in higher energy levels are farther from the nucleus, and thus the size of the atom increases.
In other words, atomic radii become larger as you move down a group because electrons are in orbitals
that are farther from the nucleus.

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What would you suspect happens to atomic radii as you move left to right across a period? It
may surprise you at first to learn that atomic radii generally decrease as you move across a period.
Although atoms of each element gain another electron as the atomic number increases, they also gain
one more proton than atoms of the preceding element. Unlike adding electrons to higher energy levels,
which occurs as you move down a group, as you move across a period, added electrons fill orbitals at
the same energy level. Therefore, the orbitals dont actually extend farther from the nucleus; they just
receive more electrons. The greater positive charge resulting from increased numbers of protons
causes electrons to be pulled closer to the nucleus. Pulling electrons closer to the nucleus actually
makes the atomic radii smaller.
To recap the trends youve just learned in atomic radii, atoms generally become bigger as you
move down the Periodic Table, and they become smaller as you move across the Periodic Table from
left to right. Youll notice that the largest atoms tend to be in the lower left of the table, and the smallest
atoms are in the upper right.

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Another trend related to size occurs in ionic radius. You have probably learned already that an
ion is a charged atom resulting from either the gain or loss of electrons. If an atom loses an electron, it
takes on a positive charge and is called a cation. If an atom gains an electron, the increase in
negative charge makes it a negatively charged ion, or anion. Remember ions have the same number
of protons and neutrons as atoms; they just differ in the number of electrons. Next, youll learn factors
that determine the size of ions and trends in ionic radii that can be seen in the Periodic Table.

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When an atom loses an electron and becomes a cation, it always becomes smaller. The loss of
an electron reduces an atoms overall negative charge, allowing the remaining electrons to be pulled
closer to the positively charged nucleus. Consequently, the cation has a smaller radius. For the
opposite reason, when an atom gains electrons and becomes an anion, it always becomes larger. The
increase in electrons without an increase in protons allows the negatively charged electrons to travel
farther from the nucleus, and the radius of the anion will be larger than the electrically neutral atom.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
Scene 41
Elements within a group tend to form ions that have the same charge, and the ionic radii tend to
increase going down each group. For instance, ions in group 1A form cations with a single plus charge.
Ions in group 2A form a two plus charge. On the other side of the Periodic Table, atoms in group 6A
typically form anions with a two minus charge, and those in group 7A tend to form a single minus
charge. The Noble gases in group 8A, which you learned are stable because of their filled valence
shells, tend not to form ions. For the elements that form ions, ionic radii generally increase moving
down a group as the increased number of electrons fill orbitals that extend farther from the nucleus.

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Moving from left to right across a period, youll notice that ionic radii vary. The ionic radii of
cations gradually decrease from group 1A moving toward the right, but starting with groups 4A and 5A,
these elements form anions that are much larger than the cations, and these anions also gradually
decrease in size moving toward the right. Although general trends in ionic radii exist, they vary
somewhat, and whats more, some ions are more common than others in nature. To gain a deeper
understanding of why ionic radii vary across the Periodic Table, it helps to understand two concepts:
ionization energy, which is the energy needed to remove an electron from an atom, and electron
affinity, which is the energy change that occurs when an atom gains electrons. You will learn more
about ionization energies and electron affinities in the following scenes.

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Ionization energy is the energy needed to pull an electron away from its attraction to the
positively charged nucleus when an atom is in a gaseous state. In other words, it reflects how strongly
an atom holds the electron. The reason ionization energy is reported for gases is because individual
atoms must be far enough apart to give an accurate measurement. Although ionization energy is
measured for individual atoms, it is more commonly reported for a larger collection of atoms known as a
mole, which represents 6.02 x 1023 atoms, as you probably already know. The System International,
or SI, unit for energy is the Joule, and the ionization energy for a mole of atoms is typically reported in
thousands of Joules, or kiloJoules. For example, the amount of energy required to remove an electron
from each atom in a mole of lithium is 520 kJ per mole.

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So how do ionization energies relate to the Periodic Table? They actually show the opposite
trend as atomic radii. Ionization energies decrease as you move down each group, and they increase
moving left to right across a period. You are probably wondering why this occurs. The size of the atoms
increases as you move down a group, so the outermost electrons are farther from the nucleus. An
electron that is farther from the nucleus is affected less by the nucleus positive charge, so it is easier to
remove. Therefore, the ionization energy decreases. Similarly, from left to right across a period, the
size of atoms decreases, and the decreased size allows electrons to be held more closely to the
nucleus. This causes an increase in ionization energy as you move across a period, since the electrons
are more difficult to remove.
So far you have learned the effect of removing a single electron from an atom. In the next
scene, you will learn about successive ionization energies, or the amount of energy required to remove
more than one electron from an atom.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
Scene 45
The table on the screen shows the energy required to pull successive numbers of electrons
away from atoms. Notice that hydrogen has only one ionization energy value, whereas lithium has
three, corresponding exactly to the numbers of electrons each atom possesses and consequently to the
number of electrons that could possibly be removed. Also notice that the ionization energies dont
gradually increase for each element. The large jumps seen at the color change in the charge represent
pulling electrons from the closed shell electron configuration at the next lower energy level. For
example, magnesium has the electron configuration 1s22s22p63s2. The 1s22s22p6 is the same as the
closed shell electron configuration on neon. So magnesiums electron configuration can be abbreviated
as the neon shell with just the level 3 valence electrons shown. The first ionization energy of 737 kJ per
mole represents removing one 3s electron, leaving the magnesium plus ion (Mg1+). The second
ionization energy of 1450 kJ per mole represents removing the remaining 3s electron, yielding the
magnesium two plus ion (Mg2+). Notice that the next electron removed would be from the closed neon
shell. As you learned earlier, the Noble gases arent likely to gain or lose electrons due to their stable
electron configurations. Likewise, ions with a Noble gas electron configuration tend not to lose more
electrons. The jump to the next ionization energy represents pulling an electron from the magnesium
two plus ions closed shell. This requires a lot of energy, as you see by the jump from 1450 to 7731 kJ
per mole.

Scene 46
The pattern you just observed for magnesium occurs for each atom past lithium. The large jump
in ionization energy represents the difficulty of pulling electrons from the closed shell, disrupting the
octet of the Noble gas electron configuration. This explains why certain ions are more common in
nature. Pulling more electrons from a stable Noble gas configuration is simply not an energetically
favorable event. The pattern in ionization energies also explains why elements in the same group tend
to form the same ions. Earlier, you learned that elements in group 1A tend to form a single plus charge;
elements in group 2A tend to form a two plus charge, and so on. Elements within a group have similar
valence electron configurations, as you see on the screen, and therefore tend to form ions of the same
charge by losing electrons to reach the stable Noble gas shell of the next lower energy level. However,
the trend for atoms to lose electrons does not continue all the way across the periods in the Periodic
Table. The elements on the right side of the table tend to form negative ions by gaining electrons. This
trend is related to energy change associated with adding an electron, or electron affinity.

Scene 47
Electron affinity is the energy change associated with gaining electrons. Like ionization energy,
electron affinity is measured for single atoms in the gas state and reported as kJ per mole of atoms.
Notice that the chart on the screen depicts most of the electron affinities as negative numbers. This
means that these elements do not require energy to gain an electron, but actually release energy as the
incoming electron is attracted to the nucleus of a non-charged atom. Therefore, atoms that attract
electrons more strongly have a larger negative electron affinity value. The periodic trend in electron
affinities shows that they generally decrease moving down a group and increase moving across a
period.

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 Transcript: Honors Chemistry
Structure and Organization: Periodic Table and Trends
Scene 48
The elements on the right of the Periodic Table tend to have high electron affinities because
gaining electrons moves them towards the energetically favorable octet. The highest electron affinity
values, reflected by large negative numbers, are found in the halogens in group 7A. These elements
achieve an octet by gaining a single electron. On the left, the electron affinity values are much lower,
and the elements in group 2A actually have positive values. This indicates that it is much more difficult
for these elements to gain electrons. Notice how electron affinities relate to the trends in ionization
energy that you learned earlier. The elements on the left side of the Periodic Table have low ionization
energies, meaning they tend to lose electrons, becoming cations, in order to attain an octet of
electrons. The elements on the right side of the Periodic Table have high electron affinities, meaning
that they tend to gain electrons, becoming anions, in order to attain an octet.

Scene 49
Another trend the Periodic Table reflects is electronegativity. An elements electronegativity
pertains to the ability of its atoms to attract electrons shared in a chemical bond. When atoms combine,
or form a bond, they often transfer electrons, or share electrons with one another. More electronegative
atoms tend to attract electrons toward their end of the bond more strongly than less electronegative
atoms. For example, in the compound hydrogen-fluoride, the fluorine atom is far more electronegative
than the hydrogen atom. This results in the electrons shared in the bond being pulled more closely
toward the fluorine atom, giving it more of the negative charge. A molecule with more of a charge on
one end than the other is known as a polar molecule, and this polarity greatly affects its properties.
Polarity wont be covered in this program, but you can learn more about polarity affects on the physical
and chemical properties of molecules in a chemistry textbook or the CyberEd program Molecular
Shape and Intermolecular Forces.

Scene 50
Notice from the chart on your screen that electronegativity values have no units.
Electronegativity values are arbitrary units based on a variety of factors, but are often considered to be
a rough average between electron affinities and ionization energies. Notice that there are no values
represented for the Noble gases. As you may have realized, this is because the Noble gases are
stable, and therefore tend not to bond with other atoms to form compounds. Electronegativities
decrease as you move down a group and increase as you move across a period. The least
electronegative elements are at the lower left of the Periodic Table. The trend in increasing
electronegativity goes up and toward the right to fluorine. This means that the most electronegative
element, fluorine, pulls the electrons in bonds toward itself more strongly than any other element.

Scene 51
This concludes your journey into the Periodic Table and trends of the elements. Youve learned
that the Periodic Table organizes information about all the known elements in a sequential and
predictable manner. Elements are arranged according to atomic number, which tells the number of both
protons and electrons. The atomic mass presented at the bottom of each element tag tells the average
mass of all the naturally occurring isotopes of a particular element. The shape of the Periodic Table
allows you to easily see the s, p, d, and f block elements, and allows you to predict the electron
configurations for most of the elements simply by noting their position. The arrangement of the
elements on the Periodic Table shows trends in their relative size as represented by atomic radii and
ionic radii. Finally, as you just learned, the Periodic Table shows trends in the likelihood of each
element to gain electrons, lose electrons, and the extent to which they share electrons in chemical
bonds. When you next look at the Periodic Table, or use it to help solve a problem, appreciate its
origins and how much more difficult the study of chemistry would be without the vast amount of
information the Periodic Table presents and organizes.

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