Explain why first ionisation energy decreases down a group.

As you go down the group, ionisation energy decreases because there are more electron shells and shielding increases, therefore the outer electron is further away from the positive nucleus and is less strongly attracted to it.

IA

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Why does magnesium have a higher melting point than sodium?


What trends are shown as you go down group 2 of the periodic table?


Consider the transition metal complex [CoCl3(CO)3]. What is a) The oxidation state of the metal centre. b) The dn configuration of the metal centre. c) The co-ordination number of the metal centre.


electron arrangement in atoms