Examine the following set of ionization energy values for a certain element. How many valence electrons does an atom of the neutral element possess? Ionization step - Ionization energy (kJ/mol) IE1 - 1012 IE2 - 1903 IE3 - 2912 IE4 - 4956 IE5 - 6273 IE6 - 22233 IE7 - 25997 IE8 - 27575 Express your answer numerically as an integer.

5

Explanation:

For knowing the number of valence electrons in the neutral element, we first need to see the change in ionization energy between every step.

Looking at the values above, we find that there is huge change at step 6, that means large amount of energy was required at step 6 which indicates that at this step the kernel electron was taken out.

Thus the element in the question has 5 electrons in it's valence shell as the 6th electron was kernel electron.

a. True

Explanation:

The atomic radius is taken as the half of the inter nuclear distance between two atoms that are covalently bonded.

Across a period, the atomic radii usually decrease progressively because the nuclear charge(number of protons in the nucleus) increases without the increase in the number of electronic shell. Therefore, the electrons are pulled more to the nucleus.

Down a group, the effect of the nuclear pull is reduced because the number of electron shell increases and the nuclear charge is being compensated for.