CHEMISTRY NOTES CLASS 11

TOPIC: Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties

MODERN PERIODIC LAW AND THE PRESENT FORM OF THE PERIODIC TABLE
“The physical and chemical properties of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers.”

The horizontal rows (which Mendeleev called series) are called periods and the vertical columns, groups.
Elements having similar outer electronic configurations in their atoms are arranged in vertical columns, referred to as
groups or families.

Structural features of the periodic table:

Groups: There are 18 groups in the periodic table.
Characteristics of groups:
• All the elements present in a group have same general electronic configuration of the atoms.
• Elements included in a group have same number of valence electrons and same valency.
• The elements in a group are separated by definite gaps of atomic numbers (2,8,8,18,18,32).
• The atomic sizes of the elements in a group increase down the group due to increase in the number of shells.
• The elements in the same group have generally similar chemical properties because these are related to the
valence shell electronic configuration of the atoms.

Periods: There are seven periods in the modern periodic table.

Characteristics of Periods:
• In all the elements present in a period, the electrons are filled in the same valence shell.
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 • The atomic sizes of the elements generally decrease from left to right in a particular period.
• In a periods the metallic character of the elements decreases while their non-metallic character increases. The
electropositive character of the element decreases and electronegative character increases.
• As the electronic configuration changes along the period, the chemical properties of the elements also changes.
• With the change in the electronic configuration, the valencies of the elements also change.

Defects in the long form of periodic table: Although the long form of periodic table is better than Mendeleev’s Periodic
table in many ways, it still suffers from certain defects.
• Hydrogen has been placed at the top of the alkali metal family because its electronic configuration is 1s1. On
similar basis He with 1s2 electronic configuration should have been included in group 2 of alkaline earth metals.
But it is placed in group 18 of noble gases. Apart from this, hydrogen also resembles halogens of group 17 in
many characteristics.
• Lanthanoids and Actinoids should have been accommodated in main body of the periodic table. But these have
been placed separately at the bottom of the periodic table.

NOMENCLATURE OF ELEMENTS WITH ATOMIC NUMBERS > 100

Notation for IUPAC Nomenclature of Elements
Digits Name
0 nil
1 un
2 bi
3 tri
4 quad
5 pent
6 hex
7 sept
8 oct
9 enn

IUPAC naming of Elements:

Atomic number IUPAC name Symbols
101 Unnilunium unu
102 Unnilbium unb
103 Unniltrium unt
104 Unnilquadium unq
105 Unnilpentium unp
106 Unnilhexium unh
107 Unnilseptium uns
108 Unniloctium uno
109 Unnilennium une
110 Ununnilium uun
111 Unununium uuu
112 Ununbium uub
113 Ununtrium uut
114 Ununquadium uuq
115 Ununpentium uup
116 Ununhexium uuh
117 Ununseptium uus
118 Ununoctium uuo
119 Ununennium uue
120 Unbinilium ubn

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General Electronic configuration:
s- Block elements: ns1-2
p- Block elements: ns2 np1-6
d- Block elements: (n-1) d1-10 ns1-2
f- Block elements: (n-2) f1-14 (n-1) d0–1 ns2

General characteristic of s-block elements:

• They are soft metals with low melting and boiling points.
• They have low ionization enthalpies and are highly electropositive.
• They lose their valence electron easily to form +1(in case of alkali metals) and +2 ions (in case of alkaline earth
metals).
• They are very reactive metals. The metallic character and the reactivity increase as we move down the group.
Because of high reactivity they are never found in nature.
• The compounds of s-block elements with the exception of those of beryllium are predominantly ionic.
• Most of the metals except Be and Mg impart characteristics colour to the flame.
• They are strong reducing agents means electron donors.
• All are good conductors of heat and electricity.

General characteristic of p-block elements:

• They include metals, non -metals and metalloids. The metallic character increases top to bottom within a group
and non- metallic character increases from left to right along a period in this block.
• Their ionization enthalpies are relatively higher as compared to those of s-block elements.
• They mostly form covalent compounds.

General characteristic of d-block elements:

• They are hard, malleable and ductile.
• They have high melting and boiling points.
• All are good conductors of heat and electricity.
• Their ionization energies are between s- and p- block elements.
• They form both ionic and covalent compounds.
• Their compounds are generally coloured and paramagnetic.
• Most of the transition metals and their compounds are used as catalysts.
• They form alloys.

General characteristic of f-block elements:

• They form heavy metals.
• They have high melting and boiling points.
• Their compounds are generally coloured.
• Most of the elements of actinoid series are radioactive.

Difference between metals and non-metals:

Metals Non-metals
They are present in s, p, d and f-blocks of periodic table. They are present in p-block.
They are solid at room temperature except Hg. They are mostly solids and gases at room temperature.
They are good conductor of heat and electricity. They are not good conductor of heat and electricity.
They are sonorous and lustrous. They are not sonorous and lustrous.
They have high melting and boiling point. They have low melting and boiling point.
They are malleable and ductile. They are not malleable and ductile.
They have high density. They have low density.
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 They are hard except Na and K. They are soft except Diamond (an allotrope of carbon).
Metals react with acids to produce H2 Non-metals do not produce H2 on reaction with acids.
Metals form basic oxide. Non-metals form acidic oxide.

Metalloids: These are also called semi-metals and have intermediate properties between metals and non-metals. They
are present as zigzag line in the periodic table. E.g. Si, Ge, Te, As, Sb etc.

Periodic trends in the properties of the elements.

1) Atomic radius: The distance from the centre of the nucleus to the outermost shell containing the electrons.

Variation of atomic radius in the periodic table:

Variation in a period: Along a period, the atomic radii of the elements generally decrease from left to right.
Explanation: in moving from left to right in a period, the nuclear charge gradually increase by one unit and at the same
time one electron is also being added in the electron shell. Due to increased nuclear charge from left to right, the
electrons are also getting attracted more and more towards the nucleus. Consequently the atomic size is expected to
decrease in case of elements of same period.

Variation in group: The atomic radii of the elements in an every group of the periodic table increases as we move
downwards.
Explanation: On moving down a group, there is an increase in the principal quantum number and thus increase in the
number of electron shells. Therefore, the atomic size is expected to increase. But at the same time, there is an increase
in the atomic number or nuclear charge also. As a result, atomic size must decrease. However, the effect of increase in
the electron shells is more pronounced than the effect of increase in nuclear charge. Consequently, the atomic size and
atomic radius increases down a group.

2) Ionic Radius: The effective distance from the centre of the nucleus of the ion upto which it exerts its influence on
the electron cloud.
The removal of an electron from an atom results in the formation of a cation, whereas gain of an electron leads to an
anion. In general, the ionic radii of elements exhibit the same trend as the atomic radii.

The size of the cation is always smaller than its parent atom due to
• Decrease in the number of shells
• Increase in the effective nuclear charge resulting in greater force of attraction by the nucleus on the electrons.
For example, the atomic radius of sodium is 186 pm compared to the ionic radius of 95 pm for Na+.
Variation of cationic radii within a group: It increases as we move from top to bottom within a group primarily due to
an increase in the number of shells. For example, the ionic radii of
Li+ is 60pm
Na+ of 95pm
K+ is 133pm
Rb+ is 149pm
Cs+ is 170pm

The size of an anion will be larger than that of the parent atom because
• The addition of one or more electrons would result in increased repulsion among the electrons and the electron
cloud of the atom expands.
• Decrease in effective nuclear charge.
For example, the ionic radius of fluoride ion (F–) is 136 pm whereas the atomic radius of fluorine is only 64 pm.
Variation of anionic radii within a group: It also increases as we move down the group due to an increase in the number
of shells. For example, the ionic radii of
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F- is 136pm
Cl- is 181pm
Br- is 196pm
I-is 219 pm

Isoelectronic species: Species (atoms and ions) which contain the same number of electrons are called isoelectronic
species. For example, O2–, F–, Na+ and Mg2+ have the same number of electrons (10). Their radii would be different because
of their different nuclear charges.
The cation with the greater positive charge will have a smaller radius because of the greater attraction of the electrons
to the nucleus.
Anion with the greater negative charge will have the larger radius. In this case, the net repulsion of the electrons will
outweigh the nuclear charge and the ion will expand in size.
Therefore, their ionic radii increase in the order:
Al3+ < Mg2+ < Na+ < F- < O2- < N3-

Note: The ionic size of isoelectronic species can be easily compared on the basis of their atomic number/number of
electrons i.e. Z/e ratio. Smaller the value of Z/e, larger the size of the species. For example:
Ion Z E Z/e Ionic radius(pm)
N3- 7 10 0.7 171
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O 8 10 0.8 140
F- 9 10 0.9 136
Ne 10 10 1.0 112
Na+ 11 10 1.1 95
Mg2+ 12 10 1.2 65
3+
Al 13 10 1.3 50

Shielding or screening effect of the inner shell electrons:

In multi-electron atoms, the electrons in the valence shell experience an attractive force from the nucleus and a repulsive
force from the electrons in the inner shells. The overall effect of these two opposing forces is that the attractive force
exerted by the nucleus on the valence shell electrons is somewhat reduced by the repulsive force exerted by the electrons
present in the inner shells. In other words, the valence shell electrons do not feel the full charge of the nucleus. The
actual charge felt by the valence shell electrons is called effective nuclear charge.
The repulsive force felt by the valence shell electrons from the electrons present in the inner shells is called the
shielding effect or screening effect.
Therefore, the effective nuclear charge (Zeff) is given by the relation
Zeff = Total nuclear charge (Z) - Screening constant (𝜎)

Ionisation Enthalpy:
It is the minimum energy required to remove most loosely bound electron from the isolated gaseous atom in its ground
state to form a cation in the gaseous state.
It is represented by ∆𝑖𝐻.
Energy is always required to remove electrons from an atom and hence ionization enthalpies are always positive.
Unit- KJ/mol.

Successive Ionisation enthalpy: If a gaseous atom is to lose more than one electron, they can be removed one after the
other i.e. in succession and not simultaneously.
The ionization enthalpies required to remove first, second, third etc. electrons from an isolated gaseous atom are called
successive ionization enthalpies. This is known as successive ionization enthalpies.
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First ionization enthalpy: The energy required to remove the most loosely bound electron from the isolated gaseous
atom is called its first ionization enthalpy and is denoted by ∆iH1.
M(g) → M+(g) + e–
Second ionization enthalpy: The energy required to knock out or remove second electron is called its second ionization
enthalpy and is denoted by ∆iH2.
M+(g) → M2+(g) + e–
Third ionization enthalpy: The energy required to knock out or remove third electron is called its third ionization enthalpy
and is denoted by ∆iH3.
M2+(g) → M3+(g) + e–

The second ionization enthalpy will be higher than the first ionization enthalpy because it is more difficult to remove an
electron from a positively charged ion than from a neutral atom because of electrostatic forces of attraction.
When one electron has been removed from the neutral gaseous atom, the positively charged ion formed has one electron
less than the number of protons in the nucleus. As a result, the electrostatic attraction between the nucleus and the
remaining electrons in the cation increases i.e. effective nuclear charge increases. In other words, the positive ion holds
its remaining electrons more firmly.
In the same way the third ionization enthalpy will be higher than the second and so on.

Order of successive ionization enthalpies:

∆iH1 < ∆iH2 < ∆iH3

Trends of ionization enthalpy:

Period: It increases across the period as size decreases and Zeff (effective nuclear charge) increases.
Group: It decreases down the group because size increases and Z eff decreases.

Factors affecting ionization enthalpy:

• Size of the atom: The larger the atomic size, smaller is the value of ionization enthalpy. In a larger atom, the
outer electrons are far away from the nucleus and thus force of attraction with which they are attracted by the
nucleus is less and hence can be easily removed.

• Screening effect: Higher the screening effect, the lesser is the value of ionization enthalpy as the screening effect
reduces the force of attraction towards nucleus and hence the outer electron can be easily removed.
Decreasing order of screening effect is:
s> p> d>f

• Nuclear charge: As the nuclear charge increases among atoms having same number of energy shells, the
ionization enthalpy increases because the force of attraction towards nucleus increases.

• Half-filled and fully filled orbitals: the atoms having half-filled and fully filled orbitals are extra stable, hence
more energy is required to remove electrons from such atoms. The ionization energy is rather higher than the
expected value in case of such an atom.

• Penetration effect: Ionization enthalpy increases as the penetration effect of the electron increases. In case of
multi electron atoms, the electrons of the s orbital has the maximum probability of being found near the nucleus
and this probability goes on decreasing in case of p-, d- and f-orbitals of the same shell. The s-orbital is more
penetrated inside the atom and hence its electrons are more close to the nucleus that the p-orbital of the same
shell. Thus it is difficult to remove electron from s-orbital in comparison to p-orbital.
Decreasing order of penetration effect is:
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 s> p> d>f

Electronegativity:
It is the ability or tendency of an atom to attract shared pair of electrons towards itself in a covalent bond.
It is represented by ꭓ.
It is a property of an element in the bonded state.
It is unit-less.
It is not a measurable quantity.
Although a number of numerical scales of electronegativity such as Pauling scale, Mulliken- Jaffe scale, Allred Rochow
scale have been developed, yet the Pauling scale is the most widely used.

Electronegativity values of some elements on the Pauling Scale:

Element Electronegativity value
F 4.0(most electronegative element)
O 3.5
N 3.0
Cl 3.0
Br 2.8
I 2.5
C 2.4
H 2.1
Li 1.0
Na 0.9
K 0.8
Cs 0.7 (most electropositive element)
Mg 1.2
P 2.1
S 2.5
Si 1.8

Trends of electronegativity:
Period: The electronegativity values for the representative elements increases along a period from left to right. This is
because as we move along the period from left to right nuclear charge increases and atomic radius decreases.
Group: It decreases down a group because when we move down a group, the atomic radius as well as screening effect
increases.
Metallic and Non-metallic character: As the electronegativity increases, the non-metallic character increases.
Conversely, as the electronegativity decreases the metallic character increases. For example, Fluorine is the most non-
metallic element and cesium is the most metallic element in the periodic table.

Electron gain enthalpy (∆egH):

Electron gain enthalpy of an element may be defined as the energy released or absorbed when a neutral isolated gaseous
atom accepts an extra electron to form anion (in its ground state).
This process may be represented as:
X (g) + e- → X-(g)
It is measured in kJ mol-1.
Depending upon the nature of the element, the process of adding an electron to the atom can be either exothermic or
endothermic.
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For majority of the elements energy is released when electron is added to the atom. Therefore for such elements, the
electron gain enthalpy is negative. For example the electron gain enthalpy for halogens is highly negative because they
can acquire the nearest stable noble gas configuration by accepting an extra electron. In contrast noble gases have large
positive electron gain enthalpies because extra electron has to be placed in the next higher principal quantum energy
level thereby producing highly unstable electronic configuration.

Successive electron gain enthalpies: After the addition of one electron, the atom becomes negatively charged and the
second electron is to be added to a negatively charged ion. But the addition of second electron is opposed by electrostatic
repulsion and hence the energy has to be supplied for the addition of second electron. Thus the second electron gain
enthalpy of an element is positive. For example when an electron is added to oxygen atom to form O - ion, energy is
released. But when another electron is added to O- ion to form O2- ion, energy is absorbed to overcome the strong
electrostatic repulsion between the negatively charged O- ion and the second electron being added. Thus,
First electron gain enthalpy
O (g) + e- → O-(g) ; ∆egH1 = -ve (Energy is released)
Second electron gain enthalpy
O-(g) + e- → O2-(g) ; ∆egH2 = +ve (Energy is absorbed)

Factors affecting electron gain enthalpy:

• Atomic size: Smaller the size of the atom, stronger is the attraction for the added electron towards the nucleus
and greater is the electron gain enthalpy.
• Nuclear charge: Greater the nuclear charge, stronger is the attraction for the added electron towards nucleus
and greater is the electron gain enthalpy.
• Electronic configuration: The elements having stable electronic configuration (half- filled or fully filled) have very
little or no tendency to accept additional electron, hence electron gain enthalpies are low or positive in these
cases.
Example: Electron gain enthalpies of some of the members of alkaline earth metals (ns2 electronic configuration), noble
gases (ns2 np6 fully filled electronic configuration) and nitrogen (ns2 np3 half-filled electronic configuration) are positive.
This is because they have stable configurations. These atoms resist the addition of extra electron as they do not want to
disturb their stability.

Variation of electron gain enthalpy in periodic table:

1. Across the period: Electron gain enthalpy becomes more and more negative from left to right in a period. This is due
to decrease in size and increase in nuclear charge as the atomic number increases in a period.
2. Down the group: Electron gain enthalpy becomes less negative as we go down the group. This is due to increase in
size on moving down a group. This factor is predominant to the other factor, i.e., increase in nuclear charge.
Exceptional cases:
The Electron gain enthalpies of oxygen and fluorine, the members of the second period, have less negative values than
the elements sulphur and chlorine of the third period.
Reason: This is due to small size of the atoms of oxygen and fluorine. As a result, there is a strong inter-electronic
repulsion when extra electron is added to these atoms, i.e., electron density is high and addition of electron is not easy.
Thus the electron gain enthalpies of third period elements, sulphur and chlorine have more negative values than
corresponding elements oxygen and fluorine.

Difference between Electronegativity and electron gain enthalpy:

Electron gain enthalpy Electronegativity
It is the tendency of an isolated gaseous atom to attract It is the tendency of an atom in a molecule to attract
an electron. the shared pair of electrons.
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 It can be experimentally measured. It cannot be measured experimentally. It is only a
relative number w.r.t. Fluorine taken as 4.0 on Pauling’s
scale.
It is usually expressed in kJ mol-1 It has no units.
It is the property of an isolated atom. It is the property of bonded atom.

Prepared By: Shilpa Arora