In chemistry, the "period" refers to the horizontal rows in the periodic table. As you move from left to right across a period, elements show certain trends in their properties, including reactivity.
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Reactivity: This is how likely an element is to react with other substances. Reactivity can change among elements in the same period.
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Trends: In general, as you move from left to right across a period:
- The reactivity of metals tends to decrease. For example, sodium (Na) is very reactive, while iron (Fe) is less reactive, and gold (Au) is even less reactive.
- The reactivity of nonmetals tends to increase. For example, nitrogen (N) is less reactive than chlorine (Cl), which is very reactive.
Example:
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Metals: The alkali metals (like lithium and sodium) are very reactive. As you go to elements like magnesium and aluminum in the same period, they become less reactive compared to alkali metals. By the time you reach metals like iron and copper, the reactivity is even lower.
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Nonmetals: On the opposite side, if you look at nonmetals like chlorine (Cl) which is highly reactive, moving to elements like neon (Ne) makes you see a transition to elements that are not reactive at all.
So, in summary, in the same period of the periodic table, metals generally become less reactive as you move to the right, while nonmetals become more reactive. This pattern helps scientists understand how different elements will behave in reactions.
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