--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

Explanation of oxygen family.

Group 16 of periodic table contains five elements namely, oxygen (O), sulphur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te) and polonium (Po). These are collectively known as chalcogens or ore forming elements because many metal ores occur as oxides and sulphides. These elements belong to p-block. The first four members of group 16 are non-metals. Polonium has metallic character and is a radioactive element with a very short period.

Oxygen, the most abundant element, is a vital element of atmosphere and ocean. It composes 46.6% of earth's crust. It forms about 21% of air as the free element and 89% of the ocean by weight. Sulphur is less abundant and occurs about 0.052% of the earth's crust. Sulphur is also referred as Brim stone. The name sulphur is derived from Sanskrit word 'Sulveri' which means 'killer of copper'. Compared to oxygen and sulphur the other members of this group are rare.

Atoms of these elements have outer electronic configuration as ns2np4, where n varies from 2 to 6. The electronic configurations of the elements of group 16 are shown in the table below:

Elements

At. No.

Electronic configuration

Abundance in earth's crust (ppm)

Oxygen (O)

8

[He] 2s2 2p4

4.66 × 105

Sulphur (S)

16

[Ne] 3s2 3p4

5.20 × 102

Selenium (Se)

34

[Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p4

9.0 × 10-2

Tellurium (Te)

52

[Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p4

2 × 10-3

Polonium (Po)

84

[Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p4

-


The four p-electrons of the outermost shell are arranged as px2 py1 pz1. Thus, there are two half-filled p-orbitals which are used for bonding with other elements. From the similar outer electronic configuration of these elements, it is expected that they will show similar physical and chemical properties.

Oxygen the first member of this group has very high ionization energy (1314 kJ mol-1) and differs markedly from other members of the family.

Oxygen, on the other hand, is found to exhibit remarkable resemblance with its neighbours, nitrogen and fluorine. For example, it forms strong pπ-pπ bond like nitrogen. Also it forms hydrogen bonds like nitrogen and fluorine.

   Related Questions in Chemistry

  • Q : Utilization of glacial acetic acid What

    What is the utilization of glacial acetic acid? Briefly describe the uses.

    		•
  • Q : What is solvent dielectric effect?

    Ionic dissociation depends on the dielectric constant of the solvent.The Arrhenius that ions are in aqueous solutions in equilibrium with parent molecular species allows many of the properties of ionic solutions to be understood. But difficulties began to

    		•
  • Q : Problem on equilibrium constant Ethanol

    Ethanol is manufactured from carbon monoxide and hydrogen at 600 K and 20 bars according to the reaction2 C0(g) + 4 H2(g) ↔ C2H5OH(g) + H2O (g)The feed stream contains 60 mol% H2, 20 m

    		•
  • Q : How haloalkanes are prepared from

    Alkyl halides can be prepared from alkanes through substitution and from alkenes through addition of halogen acids or through allylic substitution.    From alkanesWhen alkanes are treated with halogens, chlo

    		•
  • Q : Determining maximum Osmotic pressure

    Which of the following would have the maximum osmotic pressure (assume that all salts are 90% dissociated): (a) Decimolar aluminium sulphate (b) Decimolar barium chloride (c) Decimolar sodium sulphate (d) A solution obtained by mix

    		•
  • Q : Latent heat of vaporization Normal

    Normal butane (C4H10) is stored as a compressed liquid at 90°C and 1400 kPa. In order to use the butane in a low-pressure gas-phase process, it is throttled to 150 kPa and passed through a vaporizer. The butane emerges from the vaporizer as a

    		•
  • Q : Coordination compounds discuss

    discuss practical uses of coordination compounds

    		•
  • Q : Molarity of pure water Choose the right

    Choose the right answer from following. The molarity of pure water is: (a) 55.6 (b) 5.56 (c)100 (d)18

    		•
  • Q : Problem based on molarity Select the

    Select the right answer of the question. If 18 gm of glucose (C6H12O6) is present in 1000 gm of an aqueous solution of glucose, it is said to be: (a)1 molal (b)1.1 molal (c)0.5 molal (d)0.1 molal

    		•
  • Q : How to calculate solutions molar

    The contribution of an electrolyte, or an ion electrolyte, is reported as the molar of a conductance. The definition of the molar conductance is based on the following conductivity cell in which the electrodes are 1 m apart and of sufficient area that th

    		•