nature of halides

There are six elements in Group VIIA, the next-to-last column of the periodic table. As expected, these elements have certain properties in common. They all form diatomic molecules (H₂, F₂, Cl₂, Br₂, I₂, and At₂), for example, and they all form negatively charged ions (H^-, F^-, Cl^-, Br^-, I^-, and At^-).

When the chemistry of these elements is discussed, hydrogen is separated from the others and astatine is ignored because it is radioactive. (The most stable isotopes of astatine have half-lives of less than a minute. As a result, the largest samples of astatine compounds studied to date have been less than 50 ng.) Discussions of the chemistry of the elements in Group VIIA therefore focus on four elements: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. These elements are called thehalogens(from the Greekhals, "salt," andgennan, "to form or generate") because they are literally the salt formers.

Thank You

Ruchi

Askiitians Faculty