Periodic Table

Question 1

How do you deduce electronic configuration?

Answer 1

Electrons move around the nucleus in different energy levels. The energy levels are called electron shells.

Electronic configuration: The arrangement of electrons into shells for an atom. This can be figured out by following some rules:

Electrons always occupy shells that are closest to the nucleus first
When a shell becomes full, electrons will fill the next shell

Question 2

How does the electron configuration relate to the periodic table?

Answer 2

Electronic configuration: The arrangement of electrons into shells for an atom (e.g electronic configuration of carbon is 2 . 4)

Electronic configuration and position in periodic table

The number of notations in the electronic configuration will show the number of shells of electrons the atom has, showing the period
The last notation shows the number of outer electrons the atom has, showing the group.

Question 3

Non-metals compared with Metals

Answer 3

Metals Non-metals
Basic oxides (alkaline) Acidic oxides (acidic)
Good conductors of electricity Poor conductors of electricity
High melting and boiling point Low melting and boiling point
Malleable Flaky

Question 4

Why do elements in the same group of the periodic table have similar chemical properties?

Answer 4

Group: Vertical columns that show how many outer electrons an atom has

Chemical properties of elements in the same group:

Elements in the same group in the periodic table will have similar chemical properties
This is because they have the same number of outer electrons so will react and bond similarly
For example, both lithium and sodium are in group 1 and can react with elements in group 7 to form an ionic compound (charges of group 1 elements are +1, charges of group 7 elements are -1)