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Q.What is periodic property? How the following properties vary in a group and in a period?

(a) Atomic radius
(b) Electron gain enthalpy
(c) Electronegativity
Telangana TsbieTelangana Board of Intermediate Education (Intermediate 1st Year) 2020Subjective· 8mImportance★★★★★
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Periodic properties are trends that repeat regularly with atomic number; atomic radius, electron gain enthalpy, and electronegativity all vary systematically across periods and down groups due to changing nuclear charge and number of shells.

What is a periodic property?

A periodic property is a physical or chemical property of elements that shows a regular, repeating (periodic) trend when the elements are arranged in order of increasing atomic number in the periodic table — the trend arises from the systematic variation of electronic configuration (particularly effective nuclear charge and number of shells) across periods and down groups.

(a) Atomic radius:

  • Across a period (left to right): Atomic radius generally decreases. As we move across a period, electrons are added to the same shell while the nuclear charge (number of protons) also increases; the increasing effective nuclear charge pulls the electron cloud closer to the nucleus, shrinking the atom.
  • Down a group: Atomic radius generally increases. A new principal shell of electrons is added at each step down the group, and the increased shielding by inner shells outweighs the increase in nuclear charge, so the outer electrons lie farther from the nucleus.

(b) Electron gain enthalpy:

  • Across a period: Electron gain enthalpy generally becomes more negative (i.e., more energy is released on adding an electron), because increasing effective nuclear charge across a period makes atoms hold an added electron more strongly (with some exceptions, e.g. noble gases have positive values, and Group 15 elements show less negative values due to stable half-filled p-subshells). …

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