Consider the following species:

N3–, O2–, F, Na+, Mg2+ and Al3+


A. What is common in them?


B. Arrange them in the order of increasing ionic radii.

A. In the given examples of isoelectronic species have a same number of electrons which is equal to 10. Hence, the given species are isoelectronic, i.e.

N3- has 7+3 = 10 electrons


O2- has 8+2 = 10 electrons


F- has 9+1 = 10 electrons


Na+ has 11-1 = 10 electrons


Mg2+ has 12-2 = 10 electrons


AL3+ has 13-3 = 10 electrons


B. As the magnitude of the effective nuclear decreases, the ionic radii of the ions increase.


The following arrangement denotes the elements arranged in the order of increasing nuclear charge:


N3- < O2- < F- < Na+ < Mg2+ < AL3+


Nuclear charge = +7 +8 +9 +11 +12 +13


The following arrangement denotes the elements arranged in the order of increasing ionic radii:


AL3+ < Mg2+ < Na+ < F- < O2- < N3-


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