Trends in the periodic table

Atomic Radii
 As the positive charge from the nucleus increases the outer electrons are held more closely to
the nucleus which reduces the atomic radius of the atom
 The outer electrons are all in the same shell so they are attracted more strongly to the nucleus
which has more protons then that on the elements on the start of the period
 It increases down a group as the number of shells increases, electrons get further away from
the nucleus due to which the atomic radius increases
 It decreases across a period
Ionization energy
 As the atomic radius decreases the effective nuclear charge increases due to more electrons in
the nucleus pulling the electrons towards the nucleus which makes it hard for them to be lost
 The electrons also increase but the number of shells remain the same which causes more
shielding but this is overcome by the nuclear charge as the electron shell number stays the
same
 The trend does fluctuate showing ups and downs in ionization energy. This is due to subshells,
the electrons have to be removed from full sub shells which are more stable than unfilled sub
shells. E.g. Al has less ionization energy as its last electron is the only one in its last sub shell
but Mg has a full sub shell which is more stable and due to more stability its ionization energy
is more than Al, same goes with half filled subshells
 The ionization energy decreases down a group. The reason is that the electrons increase and
so do the no. of shells this increases the shielding of the atom as the electrons repel each
other. The effective nuclear charge decreases down a group as the atomic radius increases but
the charge remains same. The effective nuclear charge is also mostly countered by the
shielding effect
Ionic Radius
 The ionic radius of metals decreases across a period due to the overall increase in effective
nuclear charge as the atomic radius decreases and the electrons lost result in less electron
than protons in the atom. The positive charge from the nucleus pulls the electrons closer
decreasing the ionic radius
 The ionic radius of non metals also increases when they form ions due addition of electrons
which cause more shielding and this causes repulsion between electron shells while increasing
the ionic radius. Across a period the ionic radius of nonmetals decreases as the nuclear charge
of the nonmetals decreases from left to right. This is mostly due to increase in number of
electrons which means that the atom can now gain less electrons than the non metals on the
right side. E.g. N has -3 valency but F has -1, nitrogen can gain more electrons and will increase
more in size than fluorine which only gains 1 electron