Radii Elements
By: Austin S , Radhika P , Trey H , Tobi O
What is this?
- The atomic radius of an element is a measure of the size Of it's atom. The distance from the nucleus to the boundary of the surrounding cloud of electrons.
What happens vertically?
- An atom gets larger as the number of electronic shells increase; therefore the radius of the atoms increase as you go down a certain group in the periodic table.
What happens horizontally?
- The size of an atom will decrease as you move from left to right of a certain period. Exceptions:
- Some exceptions are that because the electrons added in the transition elements are added in the inner electron shell, and at the same time the outer shell remains constant. The nucleus attracts the electrons inward.
Which has a bigger effect ?
Vertical change (up to down) has a bigger effect on the radii of an atom than horizontally (left to right)
Periodic Trends in Atomic Radius