Question

Compare strontium with rubidium in terms of the following properties:

Answer 1

Answer:

Strontium is smaller

Strontium has the higher ionization energy

Strontium has more valence electrons

Explanation:

It must be understood that both elements belong to the same period i.e the same horizontal band of the periodic table

While Rubidium is an alkali metal(group 1) while Strontium is an alkali earth metal(group 2)

Since they are in the same period, periodic trends would be useful in evaluating their properties

In terms of atomic radius, rubidium is larger meaning it has a bigger atomic size

Generally, across the periodic table, atomic radius is expected to decrease and thus Rubidium which is leftmost is expected to have the higher atomic radius

Since strontium belongs to group 2 of the periodic table, it has 2 valence electrons which is more than the single valence electron that rubidium which is in group 1 has

In terms of ionization energy, the atom with the higher number of valence electrons will have the higher ionization energy which is strontium in this case