Which of the following elements is the best conductor of electricity? (LO 22.1)

(a) N (b) As

(c) P (d) Bi

Video transcript

Welcome back everyone. Our next question says, consider the group six A elements below which element has the strongest ability to conduct electricity. A O BS, CS E or DTE. Well, let's think about what determines the ability to conduct electricity. And that would be the ability to lose electrons when we're talking about elements. Because essentially the ability of a material to conduct electricity is related to the mobility of charged particles within the material. In the case of pure elements, that would be the mobility of those outer shell electrons. So all of our elements are in the same group, but they have different atomic radii. And as you go down a group, the electron negativity decreases essentially the tendency of the atom to hold on to electrons due to the fact that those outer electrons are increasingly farther and farther away from the positively charged nucleus and are increasingly shielded from that positive nucleus by the inner electrons. So that electron negativity decreases going down a group due to the increasing atomic radius. Therefore, the element with the strongest ability to conduct electricity will be the one farthest down on the periodic table. So this is pretty straightforward. We look at our answer choices and identify where they are in that group. So choice A O is oxygen, which is row two, choice B, sulfur and row three. Choice CS E or selenium is in row four. And choice DTE or tellurium is in row five. So our answer here will be choice D delirium since it is the farthest down of all the group six A elements that are listed here. See you in the next video.