'Periodic Trends: Atomic Radius' Chemistry Worksheet printable pdf download

'Periodic Trends: Atomic Radius' Chemistry Worksheet

Atomic Radius Reading Assignment

Name: _________________________

Chemistry

Date: ____________ Hour: ________

Periodic Trends: Atomic Radius

(from Chemistry: Connections to Our Changing World, pp. 174-175, Prentice-Hall, 1996)

As you have learned, many of an element’s properties are determined by its electron

configuration. In addition, the periodic table is organized so that elements with similar electron

configurations are in the same column. For these reasons, you can use an element’s location in the

periodic table to predict many facts about it. Many properties of the elements change in a predictable

way as you move through the periodic table. These systematic variations are called periodic trends.

There are many periodic trends, several of which you will study in this section.

What determines an element’s properties? ___________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Figure 5-16:

Looking at the figure above,

(a) What is the atomic radius of nitrogen? _____________________________________________

(b) Do the atomic radii get bigger or smaller down a family? ______________________________

(d) What elements are missing? _____________________________________________________

You may already be familiar with the word radius (plural radii). For a sphere or ball, the radius

is the distance from the center to the outer edge. Because atoms can be thought of as spheres, they also

have a radius. The atomic radius is the distance from the center of an atom’s nucleus to its outermost

electrons.

'Periodic Trends: Atomic Radius' Chemistry Worksheet