Moving from the element with atomic number 10 to atomic number 11 on the periodic table, there is a change in reactivity. In three to five sentences, identify the direction of the change, and give two reasons for the change

Answer 1

Moving from the element with atomic number 10 (neon) to atomic number 11 (sodium) on the periodic table, there is an increase in reactivity. The reactivity of elements generally increases as you move from right to left across a period and from top to bottom within a group. Two reasons for this increase in reactivity are the decrease in effective nuclear charge and the increase in atomic size. As you move from neon to sodium, the effective nuclear charge decreases because there is an increase in the number of inner electron shells, which leads to a weaker attraction between the outermost electron and the nucleus. Additionally, sodium has a larger atomic size compared to neon, which means that its outermost electron is farther from the nucleus and is therefore easier to remove or interact with other atoms.