ATOMIC AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE

GROUP 2 ELEMENTS
This page explores the trends in some atomic and physical properties of the Group 2
elements - beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium. You will find separate
sections below covering the trends in atomic radius, first ionisation energy,
electronegativity and physical properties.
Even if you aren't currently interested in all these things, it would probably pay you to
read most of this page. The same ideas tend to recur throughout the atomic properties,
and you may find that earlier explanations help to you understand later ones. The
physical properties are extremely difficult to explain, however, and you might not want to
read about those unless you have to.

Trends in Atomic Radius

Note: You will find atomic radius covered in detail in another part of this site. If you choose to follow this
link, use the BACK button on your browser to return quickly to this page.

You can see that the atomic radius increases as you go down the Group. Notice that
beryllium has a particularly small atom compared with the rest of the Group.
Explaining the increase in atomic radius
The radius of an atom is governed by

the number of layers of electrons around the nucleus

the pull the outer electrons feel from the nucleus.

Compare beryllium and magnesium:

Be

1s22s2

Mg

1s22s22p63s2

Note: If you aren't sure about writing electronic structures using s and p notation it might be a good idea
to follow this link before you go on. Use the BACK button on your browser to return quickly to this page.

In each case, the two outer electrons feel a net pull of 2+ from the nucleus. The positive
charge on the nucleus is cut down by the negativeness of the inner electrons.

This is equally true for all the other atoms in Group 2. Work it out for calcium if you aren't
convinced.
The only factor which is going to affect the size of the atom is therefore the number of
layers of inner electrons which have to be fitted in around the atom. Obviously, the more

layers of electrons you have, the more space they will take up - electrons repel each
other. That means that the atoms are bound to get bigger as you go down the Group.
Note: You may think that this is all a bit long-winded! It is, after all, fairly obvious that atoms will get
bigger if you add more layers of electrons. Why, then, bother about exploring the net pull on the electrons
from the centre of the atom?
It is a matter of setting up good habits. If you are talking about atoms in the same Group, the net pull from
the centre will always be the same - and you could ignore it without creating problems. That isn't true if
you try to compare atoms from different parts of the Periodic Table. If you don't get into the habit of
thinking about all the possible factors, you are going to make mistakes.

Trends in First Ionisation Energy

First ionisation energy is the energy needed to remove the most loosely held electron
from each of one mole of gaseous atoms to make one mole of singly charged gaseous
ions - in other words, for 1 mole of this process:

Note: You will find ionisation energy covered in detail in another part of this site. If you choose to follow
this link, use the BACK button on your browser to return quickly to this page.

Notice that first ionisation energy falls as you go down the group.
Explaining the decrease in first ionisation energy
Ionisation energy is governed by

the charge on the nucleus,

the amount of screening by the inner electrons,

the distance between the outer electrons and the nucleus.

As you go down the Group, the increase in nuclear charge is exactly offset by the
increase in the number of inner electrons. Just as when we were talking about atomic
radius further up this page, in each of the elements in this Group, the outer electrons
feel a net attraction of 2+ from the centre.
However, as you go down the Group, the distance between the nucleus and the outer
electrons increases and so they become easier to remove - the ionisation energy falls.

Trends in Electronegativity
Electronegativity is a measure of the tendency of an atom to attract a bonding pair of
electrons. It is usually measured on the Pauling scale, on which the most
electronegative element (fluorine) is given an electronegativity of 4.0.
Note: You will find electronegativity covered in detail in another part of this site. If you choose to follow
this link, use the BACK button on your browser to return quickly to this page.

All of these elements have a low electronegativity. (Remember that the most
electronegative element, fluorine, has an electronegativity of 4.0.) Notice that
electronegativity falls as you go down the Group. The atoms become less and less good
at attracting bonding pairs of electrons.
Note: You might argue that the fall doesn't apply throughout the Group because both calcium and
strontium appear to have an electronegativity of 1.0. This is probably most easily explained by the fact
that electronegativities are often only recorded to 1 decimal place. To two decimal places, calcium is 1.00
and strontium is 0.95. When these numbers are rounded to 1 decimal place, both would appear to have
an electronegativity of 1.0.

Explaining the decrease in electronegativity

Imagine a bond between a magnesium atom and a chlorine atom. Think of it to start
with as a covalent bond - a pair of shared electrons. The electron pair will be dragged
towards the chlorine end because there is a much greater net pull from the chlorine
nucleus than from the magnesium one.

The electron pair ends up so close to the chlorine that there is essentially a transfer of
an electron to the chlorine - ions are formed.
The large pull from the chlorine nucleus is why chlorine is much more electronegative
than magnesium is.
Now compare this with the beryllium-chlorine bond.
The net pull from each end of the bond is the same as before, but you have to
remember that the beryllium atom is smaller than a magnesium atom. That means that
the electron pair is going to be closer to the net 2+ charge from the beryllium end, and
so more strongly attracted to it.

In this case, the electron pair doesn't get attracted close enough to the chlorine for an
ionic bond to be formed. Because of its small size, beryllium forms covalent bonds, not
ionic ones. The attraction between the beryllium nucleus and a bonding pair is always
too great for ions to be formed.
Summarising the trend down the Group

As the metal atoms get bigger, any bonding pair gets further and further away from the
metal nucleus, and so is less strongly attracted towards it. In other words, as you go
down the Group, the elements become less electronegative.
As you go down the Group, the bonds formed between these elements and other things
such as chlorine become more and more ionic. The bonding pair is increasingly
attracted away from the Group 2 element towards the chlorine (or whatever).

Trends in Melting Point, Boiling Point, and Atomisation Energy

The facts
Melting points

You will see that (apart from where the smooth trend is broken by magnesium) the
melting point falls as you go down the Group.
Boiling points

You will see that there is no obvious pattern in boiling points. It would be quite wrong to
suggest that there is any trend here whatsoever.
Atomisation energy
This is the energy needed to produce 1 mole of separated atoms in the gas state
starting from the element in its standard state (the state you would expect it to be in at
approximately room temperature and pressure).

And again there is no simple pattern. It looks similar to, but notexactly the same as, the
boiling point chart.
Warning! Unless you are doing a syllabus which expects you to be able to explain this, or unless your
chemistry is good and you like a good argument, don't read on beyond this point.

Trying to explain this

The only explanations you are likely to ever come across relate to the melting points. I
will give you the most common explanation, and then explain why I think it is completely
wrong!
The faulty explanation
All of these elements are held together by metallic bonds. The melting points get lower
as you go down the Group because the metallic bonds get weaker. The oddity of
magnesium has to be explained separately.
The atoms in a metal are held together by the attraction of the nuclei to the delocalised
electrons. As the atoms get bigger, the nuclei get further away from these delocalised
electrons, and so the attractions fall. That means that the atoms are more easily
separated to make a liquid and finally a gas.
As you go down the Group, the arrangement of the atoms in the various solid metals
changes. Beryllium and magnesium are both hexagonal close-packed; calcium and
strontium are face-centred cubic; barium is body-centred cubic. Don't worry if you don't
know what this means. All that matters is that there is a change in crystal structure
between magnesium and calcium. That is supposed to account for the fact that
magnesium is out of line with the rest of the Group.

Why I don't believe this explanation

The odd position of magnesium
Let's take this first, because that argument is relatively easy to demolish.
Despite the fact that the first four elements have two different structures, those
structures are both 12-co-ordinated. Each atom is touched by 12 surrounding atoms. In
that case, you would expect the metallic bond to be similar in each case, because the
orbitals are going to overlap and delocalise in the same sort of way. Any differences just
due to the structures should only be minor.

By contrast, barium is 8-co-ordinated (like the Group 1 metals). That's a less efficient
packing, and you might expect that to be reflected in a much weaker metallic bond.
Although the barium melting point is lower than that of strontium, it isn't dramatically
lower. It just follows the general trend - suggesting that the major change of structure
isn't making much difference. You can't have it both ways! If a minor change of structure
at magnesium-calcium makes a huge difference, then a major one at barium should
make an even bigger difference. It obviously doesn't.
The strength of the metallic bonds
Melting point isn't a good guide to the strength of the metallic bonds. When a metal
melts, the bonds aren't completely broken - only loosened enough for the atoms to move
around. Metallic bonds are still present in the molten metal, and aren't entirely broken
until it boils.
That means that boiling point, or the size of the atomisation energy, is a much better
guide to the real strengths of the metallic bonds. With both of those measures, you are
ending up with free atoms in the gas state with the metallic bond completely broken.
Cotton and Wilkinson, in their classic degree level bookAdvanced Inorganic
Chemistry say "The strength of binding between the atoms in metals can conveniently
be measured by the energies of atomization of the metallic elements." (Third edition,
page 68.)
If you look back at the atomisation energy chart above, you will see that magnesium still
has the lowest value, but there is no obvious trend in atomisation energies as you go
down the Group. The explanation about weaker metallic bonds as you go down the
Group can't be accurate either.
If you look at figures for Group 1 rather than Group 2, then the trends for all the various
measures (melting point, boiling point and atomisation energy) work almost perfectly as
you go down the Group. There is obviously something happening in Group 2 which is
causing the problem. I have no idea at all what it might be.

A final comment

I have had a request for solid information about this on Chemguide since 2002, during
which time this page will have been read by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of
visitors. In all that time, nobody has suggested an explanation which would account for
the low melting point value for magnesium, or the lack of any pattern with the other two
properties.
If you can see flaws in what I have said above, please get in touch with me. I would also
be grateful to anyone who could point me towards an explanation, even if it is too difficult
to use at this level, or even too difficult for me to understand. But that explanation has to
be capable of accounting for all the variations in the data.
There is one book that I have come across which is honest enough to admit the
difficulty. A.G.Sharpe, in his degree level book Inorganic Chemistry admits that there is
no easy explanation for the variations in the physical data in Group 2. If that is indeed
the case, as looks pretty likely, it is a pity that anyone should encourage faulty
explanations like the one above. Much better to have no explanation than a deeply
flawed one.
Help! If you can help, please contact me via the link on theabout this site page.

Questions to test your understanding

If this is the first set of questions you have done, please read theintroductory page before you start. You
will need to use the BACK BUTTON on your browser to come back here afterwards.
questions on the properties of Group 2 metals
answers

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 Jim Clark 2002 (last modified February 2015)