More Chemistry Tips & Exam Strategies

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In Chemistry, Periodic Table has long been regarded by students, educators and chemists as the “Bible” of Chemistry.
We need to have a good grasp of the General Features & the important Patterns (Group Trends) in order to appreciate many other topics and to score in exams.
Example:
Sodium (Na) is located in Group I and Period 3 of the Periodic Table.
Electronic Configurations of Sodium (Na) atom is 2.8.1
This shows that Na atom has only 1 valence (outermost shell) electrons and all the electrons occupies 3 shells (2 electrons occupy innermost shell, 8 electrons occupy 2nd shell and 1 electrons located in the outermost shell).
The above highlight a very important feature of Periodic Table:
Period Number = Number of electron shells
Group Number = Number of outermost electrons
Got it? Let me know if you need any clarifications.
Let’s try out some basic exam-based questions for a start:
Quick Check 1:
How many Groups & Periods are there in the Periodic Table?
A) 9 and 6 respectively
B) 9 and 7 respectively
C) 8 and 6 respectively
D) 8 and 7 respectively
Quick Check 2:
How many elements are found in the 1st Period of the Periodic Table?
A) 8
B) 6
C) 2
D) 1
Try it out!
PS: Leave your answers in the comments section below. We will get back to you with our suggested answer too!
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2 Responses
Kerk Yan Juin
02|Feb|2010 1Quick Check 1:
There are 8 Groups(Vertical Column) and 7 Periods(Horizontal Column)
in the Periodic Table.
Hence the answer is D.
Quick Check 2:
There are 6 elements found in the 1st Period(Horizontal Column)
of the Periodic Table.
Hence, the answer is B.
Reply
Kim
08|Feb|2010 2Don’t the metals count? I see 18 vertical columns, puzzled by the lack of an explanation for that.
Plus the first period has only two elements, hydrogen and helium. So the answer is C
Reply
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