Periodic Trends

In an atom, characteristics such as its atomic radius, electronegativity, and ionization energy all come into play when figuring out how reactive a certain element is, and how these periodic trends correspond with each other will be explained here.

A little background on what these all are first before the explanation; atomic radius is the distance from the nucleus of an atom, to its valence shell. This is a trend because since the elements gain a full shell of electrons after every period in the periodic table, the elements obtain a larger atomic radius as you go down, and to the left of the table which is is where the element with the largest atomic radius is located (Francium). Another trend in the table has to do with the electronegativity of each element. Electronegativity is what measures how strong an element can attract other electrons when forming a chemical bond. This is strongest in the elements in the upper right corner of the periodic table, since those are the elements which are closest to a full octet. Lastly ionization energy measures the amount of energy with is given off when an electron has been removed from a neutral atom. This also increases towards the upper right corner of the periodic table as those are the elements which are closest to a full shell, so when one is removed lots of energy is needed and produced.

All of those trends along with a few others, work together to let us know how reactive metals and nonmetals are. In metals, the farther down a group the element is, the more reactive it gets because of its large atomic radius resulting in a weaker pull on its outermost electron, and because of its low electronegativity, therefore allowing the valence electrons to easily bond with another element. As for nonmetals, the closest to the top, right corner of the periodic table an element is, the more reactive it is. This is because of its strong ionization energy. Since it is so strong, because those elements are very close to having...