--%>

Explanation of oxygen family.

Group 16 of periodic table contains five elements namely, oxygen (O), sulphur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te) and polonium (Po). These are collectively known as chalcogens or ore forming elements because many metal ores occur as oxides and sulphides. These elements belong to p-block. The first four members of group 16 are non-metals. Polonium has metallic character and is a radioactive element with a very short period.

Oxygen, the most abundant element, is a vital element of atmosphere and ocean. It composes 46.6% of earth's crust. It forms about 21% of air as the free element and 89% of the ocean by weight. Sulphur is less abundant and occurs about 0.052% of the earth's crust. Sulphur is also referred as Brim stone. The name sulphur is derived from Sanskrit word 'Sulveri' which means 'killer of copper'. Compared to oxygen and sulphur the other members of this group are rare.

Atoms of these elements have outer electronic configuration as ns2np4, where n varies from 2 to 6. The electronic configurations of the elements of group 16 are shown in the table below:

Elements

At. No.

Electronic configuration

Abundance in earth's crust (ppm)

Oxygen (O)

8

[He] 2s2 2p4

4.66 × 105

Sulphur (S)

16

[Ne] 3s2 3p4

5.20 × 102

Selenium (Se)

34

[Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p4

9.0 × 10-2

Tellurium (Te)

52

[Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p4

2 × 10-3

Polonium (Po)

84

[Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p4

-


The four p-electrons of the outermost shell are arranged as px2 py1 pz1. Thus, there are two half-filled p-orbitals which are used for bonding with other elements. From the similar outer electronic configuration of these elements, it is expected that they will show similar physical and chemical properties.

Oxygen the first member of this group has very high ionization energy (1314 kJ mol-1and differs markedly from other members of the family.

Oxygen, on the other hand, is found to exhibit remarkable resemblance with its neighbours, nitrogen and fluorine. For example, it forms strong pπ-pπ bond like nitrogen. Also it forms hydrogen bonds like nitrogen and fluorine.

   Related Questions in Chemistry

  • Q : Number of moles of potassium chloride

    Choose the right answer from following. The number of moles of KCL in 1000ml of 3 molar solution is: (a)1 (b)2 (c)3 (d)1.5

  • Q : Explain the catalyst definition and

    Catalyst is a substance which accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without undergoing any change in its chemical composition or mass during the reaction. The phenomenon of increasing the rate of a reaction with the help of a catalyst is known as catalysis.

  • Q : Relative lowering of vapour pressure

    Which of the following solutions will have a lower vapour pressure and why? a) A 5% aqueous solution of cane sugar. b) A 5% aqueous solution of urea.

  • Q : Distribution law Help me to go through

    Help me to go through this problem. The distribution law is applied for the distribution of basic acid between : (a) Water and ethyl alcohol (b) Water and amyl alcohol (c) Water and sulphuric acid (d) Water and liquor ammonia

  • Q : What are methods of phenol preparation

    Phenol was initially obtained by fractional distillation of coal

  • Q : Influence of temperature Can someone

    Can someone please help me in getting through this problem. With increase of temperature, which of the following changes: (i) Molality (ii) Weight fraction of solute (iii) Fraction of solute present in water (iv) Mole fraction.

  • Q : Eutectic Formation In some two

    In some two component, solid liquid systems, a eutectic mixture forms.Consider, now a two component system at some fixed pressure, where the temperature range treated is such as to include formation of one or more solid phases. A simple behavior is shown b

  • Q : Describe Thermodynamics Properties The

    The free energy property leads to convenient expressions for the volume and pressure dependence of internal energy, enthalpy and the heat capacities.All the properties of a chemical system, a sample of a substance, or a mixture of substances have some fixe

  • Q : Vitamines 7 enzyme cofactor what is the

    what is the relationship between vitamins and enzyme cofactors

  • Q : Avogadros hypothesis how avogadros

    how avogadros hypothesis used to deduce the atomicity of elementry gases ?