Q.Identify the group 14 element that best fits each of the following description.
Non metallic element

Group 14, the carbon family (C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb), shares the general outer configuration ns2np2. It spans all three traditional element classes: carbon is a genuine nonmetal, silicon and germanium are brittle, lustrous metalloids, and tin and lead are corrosion-resistant, moderately reactive metals. The group oxidation state is +4 (CH4, CCl4, SiCl4), but a lower +2 state (or -4) becomes increasingly stable down the group via the inert-pair effect, so that lead strongly favours +2 (PbCl2 more stable than PbCl4) while germanium still favours +4 (GeCl4 more stable than GeCl2). Carbon alone forms strong pi bonds and shows by far the greatest tendency to catenate (self-link into chains), because its small, compact 2p orbitals overlap far more effectively than the larger, more diff …