

That causes greater attraction between the nucleus and the electrons and so increases the ionisation energies. The major difference is the increasing number of protons in the nucleus as you go from sodium across to argon. These are all the same sort of distances from the nucleus, and are screened by the same electrons in the first and second levels. In the whole of period 3, the outer electrons are in 3-level orbitals. Use the BACK button on your browser to return to this page. Note: If you aren't certain about the reasons for any of these statements, you must go and read the page about ionisation energies before you go any further.

Whether the electron is alone in an orbital or one of a pair. The amount of screening by inner electrons The distance of the outer electron from the nucleus Notice that the general trend is upwards, but this is broken by falls between magnesium and aluminium, and between phosphorus and sulphur. The pattern of first ionisation energies across Period 3 It is the energy needed to carry out this change per mole of X. The first ionisation energy is the energy required to remove the most loosely held electron from one mole of gaseous atoms to produce 1 mole of gaseous ions each with a charge of 1+. Use the BACK button on your browser to return quickly to this page. Note: If you aren't happy about electronic structures, it is essential to follow this link before you go any further. In each case, represents the complete electronic structure of a neon atom. Just as a reminder, the shortened versions of the electronic structures for the eight elements are: Na In Period 3 of the Periodic Table, the 3s and 3p orbitals are filling with electrons. These topics are covered in various places elsewhere on the site and this page simply brings everything together - with links to the original pages if you need more information about particular points. It covers ionisation energy, atomic radius, electronegativity, electrical conductivity, melting point and boiling point. This page describes and explains the trends in atomic and physical properties of the Period 3 elements from sodium to argon. It may also be produced by the thermal decomposition of sodium azide.Atomic and physical properties of period 3 elementsĪTOMIC AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE PERIOD 3 ELEMENTS Pure sodium may be obtained by electrolysis of molten sodium chloride. Sodium was first commercially produced by thermal reduction of sodium carbonate with carbon at 1,100 degrees Celcius, in the Deville process.The most common sodium mineral is halite or sodium chloride salt. Although it's too reactive to occur in pure elemental form, it is found in many minerals, including halite, cryolite, soda niter, zeolite, amphibole, and sodalite.It is the sixth most abundant element on Earth, comprising about 2.6% of the earth's crust. It's found in the sun and many other stars. The symbol for sodium is Na, which comes from the Latin natrium or Arabic natrun or a similar-sounding Egyptian word, all referring to soda or sodium carbonate.

