Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties

Question

What do you understand by iso-electronic ions? In iso-electronic ions, the value of ionic radius decreases with the increase in atomic number. Explain.

Answer

Isoelectronic ions are those which have a same number of electrons and hence same electronic configuration but the different magnitude of nuclear charge. A set of species (cations or anions) having the same number of electrons is known as iso-electronic series, e.g. N3-, O2-, F-, Na+, Mg+, Al3+ are isoelectronic species.
Within the series of isoelectronic ions, as the atomic number or nuclear charge increases, the attractive force between the nucleus and a same number of electrons also increases. This results in the decrease of ionic radius. 

For example,


 Ion                          =N3-    O2-    F-     Na+    Mg+       Al3+


No. of electrons   =  10      10     10      10       10      10


At. No                      =  7        8      9       11       12      13

Since, the size of the iso-electronic ion decreases with the increase in atomic number, the order of decreasing size is

N3- > O2- > F- > Na+ > Mg2+ > Al3+

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