Why does the force of attraction between the nucleus and electrons decrease down a group?

As you go down a group, the nuclear charge decreases because the valence electrons move further away from the nucleus depleating the force of attraction between the nucleus and the electrons.

What happens when electrons get further away from the nucleus?

When electrons are excited they move to a higher energy orbital farther away from the atom. The further the orbital is from the nucleus, the higher the potential energy of an electron at that energy level. When the electron returns to a low energy state, it releases the potential energy in the form of kinetic energy.

Are electrons more or less attracted to the nucleus as they get further away?

The amount of charge felt by an electron depends on its distance from the nucleus. The closer an electron comes to the nucleus, or the more it penetrates, the stronger its attraction to the nucleus.

What happens to the force of attraction between the nucleus and the valence electrons as you go across a period Why?

Across a period, the distance between the nucleus and the valence electrons remains constant but the effective core charge increases. As a result the force of attraction between the nucleus and the valence electrons increases across a period.

What 2 factors affect the attractive force between the nucleus and valence electrons?

In an atom, the most important factors that influence the force, as calculated by Coulomb’s equation, are the nuclear charge and the distance from the nucleus to the electron of interest. The closer an electron is to a nucleus, the stronger the attractive force (i.e. the more negative F becomes).

Why do electrons want to be close to the nucleus?

Using Coulomb’s law, a particle further away from nucleus experiences weaker attraction, hence less energy is needed to maintain orbit⋆ around that e-shell compared to a electron shell closer to nucleus, hence the one closer to nucleus supposedly should have higher energy.

Why do electrons farther away from nucleus have higher energy?

As the distance from the nucleus increases, the levels get closer together and contain more-energetic electrons (Figure 5.4). The energy of an electron in one of the levels at a considerable distance from the nucleus is greater than that of an electron in a closer level.

What force attracts electrons to the nucleus?

electromagnetic force
Oppositely charged particles attract each other, while like particles repel one another. Electrons are kept in the orbit around the nucleus by the electromagnetic force, because the nucleus in the center of the atom is positively charged and attracts the negatively charged electrons.

Between which electron and the nucleus is the force of attraction the weakest?

As you go down the group, the outer shell electron is further away from the positive nucleus. This means that the electrostatic forces of attraction between the outer shell electron and the nucleus are weaker and therefore it takes less energy for the electron to be lost.

How does the force of attraction between the nucleus and the outermost electrons change as you move from left to right on the periodic table?

The net force of attraction between the nucleus and the valence electron in an atom increase as you move across a period from left to right. As you move across a period, the valence electrons in the atom experience a stronger pull toward the nucleus. DECREASES.

What happens to the attraction between the protons and the valence electrons?

The valence electrons see a charge significantly less than that present in the nucleus. The reason is that the inner electrons cancel the effect of most of the protons. The force of this attraction is proportional to the size of charge and inversely proportional to the distance between the charges.

What increases electrostatic attraction?

The net attractive electrostatic attraction is increased as the nuclear charge increases. Electrons are being added to successive energy levels and both charge on nucleus and electron repulsion increase in step to “cancel each other out”.