Exploring the Relationship of Elements and Their Electronic Configurations

In summary, the elements that are metals tend to have delocalized electrons, which makes them good conductors of heat and electricity. Noble gases, which are the farthest right column on the periodic table, have no electrons in their outermost shell, making them good at being gases.
  • #1
griefchan
7
0
Why there are much more metallic elements in the world than the non-metalllic one?

We can see on the periodic table most of the elements are metallic but why?
is there any relevance to the electronic configuration?
I can't find any helpful web-site to solve this problem.Please give me some relevant information to read and find out the reason~~~Please help!
 
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  • #2


griefchan said:
We can see on the periodic table most of the elements are metallic but why?
is there any relevance to the electronic configuration?
Um - yeah. It has to do with the electronic config, and the outermost electrons. Note the two groups on the left - alkali and alkaline Earth from period 2 and down, they are metals. The groups in the middle 3- groups 3-12 (in periods 4-7) are the transition metals (they fill d-subshell). To the right is a region that has some metals, semi-metals, non-metals (in which the p-subshell progressively fills) and to the far right as the p-shell fills, they become gases, and farthest right column with full s2p6 configurations are the noble (monatomic) gases.

I can't find any helpful web-site to solve this problem.Please give me some relevant information to read and find out the reason~~~Please help!

http://www.webelements.com/

http://periodic.lanl.gov/default.htm - shows different groups - but boundary between metal and semi-metal is not clear.

http://www.elementsdatabase.com/ - groups semi-metals with non-metals.

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/index.html - shows which are solid, liquid and gas at room temperature or STP.

Some periodic tables show which are metal, semi-metal, non-metal and gas, but unfortunately most do not.

Semi-metals are B, Si, As, Sb, Te, At - to the left of the left most non-metals are metals.

Non-metals are C, P, S, Se

Halogens - F, Cl, are gases, Br is liquid, and I is solid at room temperature. Br and I have very low melting/boiling points and are conisdered volatiles.

See also electron configuration -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_configuration
http://education.jlab.org/qa/electron_config.html
 
  • #3


griefchan said:
We can see on the periodic table most of the elements are metallic but why?
is there any relevance to the electronic configuration?
I can't find any helpful web-site to solve this problem.Please give me some relevant information to read and find out the reason~~~Please help!

Since "metallic" involves having delocalized electrons (i.e., electrons that are easy to pull away from their atoms), to a first approximation all elements could be metallic except for the noble metals, whose electron shells are filled and in a relatively low-energy state. And indeed most elements are metals, as you observed. The ones that aren't are ones that are only one, two, or three (occasionally four) electrons away from having a full shell. These form covalent (electron sharing) compounds that tend to tie up the electrons tightly.

At the middle ground are germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si). They conduct heat like metals. They almost conduct electricity like metals; all you have to do is shine light on them to give the electrons enough energy to move around.
 
  • #4


but the truth is , even though i know these electrical configuration, i still can't used explain why metal is much more than non-metal in the periodic table. It is because, using those configuration, i can only tell which element is more stable in nature.?
 

1. How do elements get their electronic configurations?

Elements get their electronic configurations through the arrangement of electrons in their atomic orbitals. Each element has a unique number of electrons, and these electrons are distributed among the energy levels and sublevels of the atom.

2. What is the relationship between the electronic configurations of elements and their properties?

The electronic configuration of an element is directly related to its chemical and physical properties. It determines how the element will react with other elements and how it will behave in different environments.

3. Why do some elements have similar electronic configurations?

Elements in the same group or period often have similar electronic configurations because they have the same number of valence electrons. Valence electrons are responsible for an element's chemical reactivity, so elements with similar valence electron configurations tend to have similar properties.

4. Can an element's electronic configuration change?

Yes, an element's electronic configuration can change in certain situations. For example, when an element reacts with another element, it may gain or lose electrons, changing its electronic configuration.

5. How is the electronic configuration of an element determined?

The electronic configuration of an element is determined by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in the nucleus. The atomic number also determines the number of electrons in an element, as in a neutral atom, the number of electrons equals the number of protons.

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