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Lanthanoid contraction
Appears in
Concepts tested here
- Poor shielding by 4f electrons
- Similar radii of 4d and 5d elements
- Zr-Hf similarity
All Questions
2015 AIPMT-I 1 question
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Because of lanthanoid contraction, which of the following pairs of elements have nearly same atomic radii? (Numbers in the parenthesis are atomic numbers).Lanthanoid contraction offsets the expected increase in size from the 4d to the 5d series.
So Zr and Hf have nearly the same atomic radii.
2014 AIPMT 1 question
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Reason of lanthanoid contraction is:Due to poor shielding by f-orbitals, the nucleus exerts a stronger attraction on the outer electrons, which causes lanthanoid contraction.
2010 AIPMT-PRE 1 question
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Which of the following pairs has the same size?Zr (4d series) and Hf (5d series) belong to the same group; normally the size should increase from Zr to Hf.
But the 14 lanthanoids come between them. The 4f electrons shield the nuclear charge poorly, so the atomic and ionic radii decrease steadily across the lanthanoids (lanthanoid contraction).
This contraction cancels the expected increase in size from the 4d to the 5d series.
As a result $Zr^{4+}$ and $Hf^{4+}$ have almost identical radii (about 72 pm and 71 pm), and the two elements have very similar properties.
$Ti^{4+}$ (3d series) is clearly smaller than $Zr^{4+}$, and $Fe^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$ differ because of increasing nuclear charge across the period.
Hence the pair with the same size is $Zr^{4+}$, $Hf^{4+}$.
