So In this example question, it says identify the element that is a representative element that is not diatomic in the second period. That assumes the shape and volume of the container that it is in. So there's a lot of information being thrown at us right now. First, we're going to say it is a representative element. Remember, representative elements is just one of the large categories for the elements of the periodic table.
If your representative element, that means you cannot be a transition metal. Unfortunately, all of these choices are representative elements. None of them are transition metals, so that part is not going to help us. Well, next, it is not diatomic. Well, here beryllium is monoatomic, silicon is monoatomic, boron is monoatomic. Neon and argon. So that also is not going to help us too much.
Now they're getting to some important stuff. They're saying second period. So second period means that in the 2nd row of the periodic table, and they say that it assumes the shape and volume of the container that it is in. So if it assumes both shape and volume, that means that it is a gas. So basically this question is asking us to find an element that's in the 2nd row of the periodic table and is also a gas.
So come up here, We're going to say 2nd row is here and the only ones that are gases are Nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine and neon. But out of those four, neon is the only one that's given to us as a choice. So that would mean that option D would be our correct answer.
So everything we've been learning about the periodic table, it adds on top of one another. You've got to remember representative elements versus transition metals. You have to remember phases. You have to remember elemental forms. This is the key to getting the type of question like this correct. So again, the only thing that fits all of these descriptions perfectly would be option D NEON.