When calling the families on the periodic chart by the top or first name in the column, where hydrogen is a non metal, and in family 13, where boron is a metaloid , is it correct to call those families the hydrogen or lithium family or/ and the boron family and for family 14, the carbon family?
Thank you,
Could you pls just answer this also.
Does the family number coincide with the number of electrons in the outer shell of an atom in that family?
I just got a brainstorm.
Thanks again.
Frankly, I haven't called these the H, or B or C groups. I have used alkali metal group, alkaline earth group, halogen group, noble element group, etc.
There is much confusion about how the columns are numbered in the periodic table but if you understand the different conventions it is true that elements in that group contain that many electrons in the outside shell. For example, If you number them 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, etc, those elements have 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 electrons in the outside shell. If you number them, as IUPAC recommends, they are numbered 1,2,.....,13,14,..17,18, then you use the second number to give you that information. In that case, you avoid the transition elements and focus only on the representative elements. -
Yes, it is correct to refer to certain families in the periodic table based on the top or first element in that particular column.
The column containing hydrogen represents the nonmetals, so it can be referred to as the hydrogen family. Similarly, the column containing boron can be called the boron family.
However, it's important to note that the column containing lithium also contains other elements such as sodium and potassium, so it is more commonly referred to as the alkali metals family. Similarly, the column containing carbon includes elements like silicon and germanium, so it is generally known as the carbon group or carbon family.
In summary, while it is technically correct to call the columns by the top or first element in the column, it is more accurate and commonly accepted to refer to them based on their shared properties or characteristics.