Periodic Table: Representative Elements & Transition Metals
2. Atoms & Elements
Periodic Table: Representative Elements & Transition Metals - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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The Groups of the Periodic Table can be broken down into the Representative Elements and Transition Metals
Transition Metals & Representative Elements
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concept
Periodic Table: Representative Elements & Transition Metals
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So at this point, we know that the elements in the periodic table can be organized into rows called periods and into columns called groups. Now within those groups, we can go a little bit further in our classification of these elements. We can classify them as being either transition metals or representative elements. Now, when we say transition metals, this is the element found in groups 3 to 12. So we're talking here about groups 3 to 12. They're called transition metals because that name symbolizes their varying charges. So for example, m n is a transition metal, it's called manganese. Depending on what element it pairs with, it can have a positive charge ranging from plus 1 to plus 7. We don't have to worry about charges just yet, but realize that they're called transition metals because they have varying charges, different charges based on the elements near them. Now we're gonna say also that, remember, between LA and h f, we have this row of transition metals and between a c and r f we have this row of transition metals. They're red, they're still transition metals, but because they're found inside these different pairs of transition metals, we call them the inner transition metals. Now besides that we can say that we sometimes refer to the transition metals also as group b elements. What does that mean? Well, that means we can further classify or label the groups 3 to 12. So group 3, we can now label as group 3 b if we want, 4 would be 4 b, this would be 5 b, 6 b, and 7 b. Now here's the thing, groups 8, 9, and 10 are all grouped together as group 8 b, and then group 11 is 1 b and group 12 is 2 b. It's a little bit weird that it goes in this order, but, again, knowing why exactly goes beyond the scope of this course, so don't worry about it. What's important is that our transition metals are group b elements. They're called transition metals because later on we'll see that some of them have multiple charges. Representative elements themselves though, the representative elements are the remaining elements not found in groups 3 to 12, so we're talking about groups 12 and then 13 to 18. They are sometimes referred to as our group a elements or our main group elements. So if they're talking about group a elements, main group elements, all that means is we're dealing with the representative elements. Group 1 a can be classified as group 1 a, 2 would be 2 a, group 13 would be 3 a, and it will go all the way up to 8 a. So this is just another way of looking at a particular group of the periodic table and this would be 8 b 8 a. So just remember when we talk about our groups, we can further break it down into transition metals and representative elements. Our representative elements are sometimes referred to as our group a elements or main group elements, and our transition metal elements are referred to as our group b elements.
The Transition Metals can be found in Groups 3 to 12 with the remaining Groups being the Representative Elements
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example
Periodic Table: Representative Elements & Transition Metals Example 1
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1m
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So here in this example question it says, which of the following is a transition metal in the 5th period with similar chemical properties to copper, which is represented by the element symbols cu. Alright. So they're telling us that it's a transition metal, so it has to be one of the elements shaded in red, then they tell us that it's in the 5th period. Remember, 5th period means that it's in the 5th row of the periodic table, and then remember, you have similar chemical properties if you're in the same group. So we have to come up here, here goes copper cu, our element that we're looking for is in the 5th row, and it has to be a transition metal, so it has to be shaded in red. And most importantly, it has to be in the same column or group as copper. So following all that, we'd see that silver which is ag would be our correct answer. So coming back down here that would mean that option c would be our correct choice. So just remember the difference between our transition metals and representative elements, when we're talking about periods, that's just the rows of the periodic table, and if you're in the same group, you're gonna have similar chemical properties.
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Problem
Problem
Which of the following is a representative element, found in the 3rd Period, that is also a pnictogen.
A
Na
B
P
C
Ar
D
Mg
E
S
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Problem
Problem
State the element symbol found in the 6th Period and Group 7A.