If you look up the radius of the Cl atom in various online sources, you will find values ranging from 79 to 182 pm (picometers; 1pm=1×10−12 m). The most common values are 100 pm and 182 pm. What can you conclude from these data?
a. Chemists must be doing something wrong if they cannot agree on a simple number like this.
b. The 100 pm number is probably the van der Waals radius, whereas the 182 pm number is probably the bonding atomic radius.
c. The 100 pm number is probably the bonding atomic radius, whereas the 182 pm number is probably the van der Waals radius.
d. The databases are probably including Cl ions in with atoms; so the 100 pm value is probably the chlorine anion radius, whereas the 182 pm value is probably the Cl atomic radius.