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Chemistry Level 1

The $\color{#69047E}{modern}$ $\color{#D61F06}{periodic}$ $\color{magenta}{table}$ given by mosely as shown above,

Which of the following element is not a transition element ?

Zinc(Zn) Iron(Fe) Platinum(Pt) Silver(Ag)

1 solution

Adam Phúc Nguyễn
Aug 22, 2015

Definition: Transition element is an element whose atom has a partially filled $d$ sub-shell, or which can give rise to cations with an incomplete $d$ sub-shell

However, Zinc has fully filled d-orbital and thus cannot be a transition metal.Its atomic number of Zinc is 30, electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 (Filled $d$ -orbital).

It's the IUPAC defnition that you've used.

Most scientists describe a "transition metal" as any element in the d-block of the periodic table, which includes groups 3 to 12 on the periodic table.

$\\\Large \text{It all depends on defnition}$

Kishore S. Shenoy - 5 years, 9 months ago

Well then all the options lie in Group 3 to 12 . Zinc does not fall under the category of transition metals because when it has a completely filled $d$ orbital.

Athiyaman Nallathambi - 5 years, 9 months ago

Nope, Zn is a d block element

Check Zinc - Wikipedia

Kishore S. Shenoy - 5 years, 9 months ago

@Kishore S. Shenoy – Even though Zn is a part of $d$ block.Its not counted as a transition metal (Thanks to the IUPAC definition of transition metals.Check this ).The question was to find the element which is not a transition metal btw.

Athiyaman Nallathambi - 5 years, 9 months ago

@Athiyaman Nallathambi – So, it should've been mentioned "according to IUPAC defnitions". Otherwise no answer is true.

Kishore S. Shenoy - 5 years, 9 months ago

@Kishore S. Shenoy – The question was to Find the element which is not a transition metal.Obviously all of these elements are a part of $d$ -block.Like @Akhil Bansal said, most people think that all d block elements are transition metals.This is not true in the case of Zn , Hg , Sc and Cd.

Athiyaman Nallathambi - 5 years, 9 months ago

But given the periodic table we could have just checked whether the options lie between the groups 3 and 12.

Athiyaman Nallathambi - 5 years, 9 months ago

all of them lie in between 3 and 12

Mrinmay Dhar - 5 years, 9 months ago

That's why i added this question,because many people thinks that all d-block elements are transition elements ,which is not true.
$\color{#D61F06}{Zn}$ , $\color{#456461}{Hg}$ , $\color{magenta}{Sc}$ and $\color{#0C6AC7}{Cd}$ belongs to d-block but aren't transition elements.

Akhil Bansal - 5 years, 9 months ago

Right.Its my mistake.Both Scandium and Zinc are not counted as transition elements because Zn ion has completely filled d orbital and Scandium when it forms ions has no d electrons.Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

Athiyaman Nallathambi - 5 years, 9 months ago

I hate Mosely

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