SHMD SCHOOL

CHEMISTRY PROJECT ON TOPIC

F BLOCK ELEMENTS
(LANTHANOIDS)
Submitted by : ADITYA KUMAR SAH
Submitted to : SIR JEKE KULLU
CLASS : XII ‘A’

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement is the most beautiful page in any project starting page.

More than formality, this appears to be the best opportunity to express my
gratitude. My thanking list can never begin without you dear God. Next in my
thank list is CBSE board for giving us such opportunities, I would also like to
thank our principal Mr. Prakash Kumar Samal and our subject teacher Mr.
Jeke Kullu for giving us such wonderful project. Now it’s time to thank these
people who have helped me in doing this project: my family and my friends
thank you very much for the effort that you have put to complete this project.
SI . NO CONTENTS PAGE NO.
1 Acknowledgement 1
2 F – BLOCK 2
(LANTHANOIDS)
3 Electronic 4
configuration
4 Atomic and ionic 4
sizes
5 Lanthanoid 4
contraction
6 Oxidation states 5
7 Physical properties 6
8 Chemical properties 6
9 Formation of 7
coloured ions
10 Magnetic character 7
11 Formation of alloys 8
12 Uses of lanthanoids 8
13 Conclusion 9
14 Bibliography 10
 Inner transition elements (F-block elements)

The inner transition elements (f-block) consists of the two series,

lanthanoids (the fourteen elements including lanthanum with
atomic numbers 57 to 71) and actinoids (the fourteen elements
including actinium with atomic numbers 89 to 103). The
lanthanoids resemble one another more closely than do the
members of ordinary transition elements in any series. They have
only one stable oxidation state and their chemistry provides an
excellent opportunity to examine the effect of small changes in size
and nuclear charge along a series of otherwise similar elements.
The chemistry of the actinoids is, on the other hand, much more
complicated. The complication arises partly owing to the
occurrence of a wide range of oxidation states in these elements
and partly because their radioactivity creates special problems in
their study.

Lanthanoids

The 14 elements immediately following lanthanum, Le., Cerium (58)

to Lutetium (71) are called lanthanoids. They belong to first inner
transition series. These fifteen lanthanide elements, alongwith the
chemically similar elements scandium and ytterium, are often
collectively known as the rare earth elements Lanthanum closely
resembles the lanthanoids, therefore it is usually included in any
discussion of the lanthanoids for which the general symbol Ln is
often used.
In the periodic table, two additional rows below the main body of
the table as parts of the table’s sixth and seventh row (periods) are
the lanthanides and the actinides.

Elements:

Lathanum (La) Cerium (Ce) Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd),

Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd),
Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy), Holmium (Ho). Erbium (Er), Thulium
(Tm), Ytterbium (Yb) and Lutetium (Lu)
Electronic configuration:

Atoms of these elements have electronic configuration

With 65? Common but with variable occupancy of 4f level.

The general electronic configuration of the lanthanolds is

[Xe] 4f^1-14 5d^0-1 6s^2

Atomic and ionic sizes

In the lanthanoid series, with increasing atomic number, the atomic and ionic radii
decrease from one element to another but the decrease is very small. The decrease in
atomic and ionic radii from lanthanum to lutetium is not quite regular but there is a
regularity in the size of Mions.

Lanthanoid contraction

The steady decrease in the size of lanthanide ions (M³) with the increase in atomic number
(Z) is called lanthanide contraction

1. Causes With an increase in the atomic number, the positive charge on nucleus
increases by one unit and one more electron enters same 4f subshell. Shielding in a
4f subshell is lesser than in d-subshell. With the increase in nuclear charge, the
valence shell is pulled slightly towards the nucleus. This causes lanthanide
contraction.

The almost identical radii of Zr (160 pm) and Hf (159 pm), a consequence of the lanthanoid
contraction, account for their Occurrence together in nature and for the difficulty faced in
their separation.

Consequence of lanthanold contraction.

 1. Resemblance of second and third transition series. As a

Result of lanthanoid contraction, the elements of second and third

transition series resemble each other much more than the elements of first
and second transition series.

2. Similarities among lanthanoids. Because of very small change in radii

of lanthanoids, their chemical properties are quite similar. Thus it is
very difficult to separate the elements in pure state. 3. Basicity
difference. Across the lanthanide series the size

Of the cations decreases thereby decreasing ionic character and increasing

covalent character of hydroxides of lanthanides. Thus, the basicity of
hydroxides decreases.

Oxidation states:

The elements belonging to lanthanide series exhibit an oxidation state of +3.

For example, Praseodymium (Pr) shows +3 oxidation state.

Some elements exhibit +2 oxidation states in their complexes in solutions. For

example, Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu). Thulium (Tm) and Ytterbium (Yb)
show +2 oxidation state. Some elements exhibit +4 oxidation states due to
high stability of empty, half-filled or fully filled f-subshells.

• Physical properties of lanthanoids

• All the lanthanoids are silvery white soft metals and tarnish rapidly in
air, the hardness increases with increasing atomic number. Samarium
is steel hard.

• The melting points range between 1000 to 1200 K but samarium melts
at 1623 K.

• They are good conductors of heat and electricity. They are

nonradioactive in nature except Promethium. The lanthanides are
strongly paramagnetic in nature.

• Chemical properties:

• The lanthanides metals combine with hydrogen when Heated gently in

the gas. The carbides, Ln3C, Ln2C3 and LnC₂ are formed when the
metals are heated with carbon.

( With C 2773K) Ln → LnC2

• Ln32 LnC₂ 3. They liberate hydrogen from dilute acids and burn in
• Halogens to form halides. . They combine with nitrogen to form
nitrides of the formula LnN
• All react with water slowly in cold but rapidly on heating Liberating
hydrogen forming Ln(OH),
Formation of coloured lens

Many trivalent lanthanoid ions are coloured both in the solid state and in aqueous
solutions. Colour of these ions may be attributed to the presence of f-electron. Neither La
nor Lu³ ion shows any colour but the rest do so..

Magnetic characters

Lanthanide ions also show paramagnetism. In lanthanides, the magnetic moment is due to
both spin magnetic moment as well as orbital magnetic moment.The paramagnetism rises
to maximum in neodymium

Formation of alloys

Lanthanoids are all used in the steel industry for making alloy steels. The important and
well-known alloy is misch-metal and it consists of lanthanoid (90-95%), iron (4-5%) and
the trace amount of S, C, Ca and Al.
Uses of lanthanoids

lanthanoids is used for the production of alloy steels for

Plates and pipes.. A well know alloy is Misch-metal used in
making tracer
Bullets, shell and lighter flint.
. Mixed oxides of lanthanoids are used as a catalyst in
petroleum cracking. Some individual oxides of lanthanoids
are used as phosphors in television screens and similar
fluorescing surface.
Conclusion

The two series of inner transition elements, lanthanoids and

actinoids constitute the f-block of the periodic table. With the
successive filling of the inner orbitals, 4f, there is a gradual
decrease in the atomic and ionic sizes of these metals along the
series (lanthanoid contraction). This has far reaching consequences
in the chemistry of the elements succeeding them. Lanthanum and
all the lanthanoids are rather soft white metals. They react easily
with water to give solutions giving +3 ions. The principal oxidation
state is +3, although +4 and +2 oxidation states are also exhibited
by some occasionally. The chemistry of the actinoids is more
complex in view of their ability to exist in different oxidation states.
Furthermore, many of the actinoid elements are radioactive which
make the study of these elements rather difficult. There are many
useful applications of the d- and f-block elements and their
compounds, notable among them being in varieties of steels,
catalysts, complexes, organic syntheses, etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
SI. NO. Source
1 NCERT
2 Wikipedia
3 Chemistry.org