Question

A portion of the periodic table is shown above Which element on the periodic table has properties that are most similar to those of nitrogen (N) and which element has properties that are the least similar? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Elements that are present in same group contains same number of valence electrons.

Therefore, they tend to show similar chemical properties.

For example, both nitrogen and phosphorus are group 15 elements. Hence, they have 5 valence electrons and they tend to show similar chemical properties.

Since, C, N, P, O and S are all non-metals but Al is a metal.

Therefore, properties of aluminium will be completely different from that of nitrogen or other non-metals.

Hence, we can conclude that element P has properties that are most similar to those of nitrogen and element Al has properties that are the least similar to nitrogen.

Answer 2

Most similar would be phosphorus, because they have the same number of electrons in their outer orbitals, thus they create the same ions, and react with elements in a similar fashion.
Different would probably be aluminum. Aluminum is a metal while nitrogen is a non-metal, as seen by the colors above. Also, aluminum creates a positive ion (losses electrons to become stable) while nitrogen creates a negative ion (gains electrons to become stable)
Hope this helps!!