Guest

potassium has 1 valence electron in its outer most shell same in the case of copper,then how does potassium is more reactive than copper. eventhough potassium is more reactive how does copper conduct electricity easily than potassium.

  1. potassium has 1 valence electron in its outer most shell same in the case of copper,then how does potassium is more reactive than copper.
 
  1. eventhough potassium is more reactive how does copper conduct electricity easily than potassium.

Grade:10

1 Answers

Ravleen Kaur
askIITians Faculty 1452 Points
5 years ago
The 3d orbitals that are filled in copper are very poor at shielding the 4s orbital, so the effective charge felt by the 4s1electron in copper is much greater than that felt by the 4s1electron in potassium. From K to Cu, there are 10 more protons in the nucleus and the charge is not very well balanced by the 3d electrons as far as the 4s orbital is concerned, so the 4s1in copper is much more tightly bound than in potassium.

You can seeherethat the 4s has some probability much closer to the nucleus than the 3d.

Think You Can Provide A Better Answer ?

ASK QUESTION

Get your questions answered by the expert for free