Nuclear Charge

[Diana A 2L]

Is there a more significant decrease in nuclear charge as more electrons are being added to the same shell, or as there are more electrons but in energy levels that are further from the nucleus? Basically, I'm asking what the trends in the periodic table are for nuclear charge.

[Ashley Wang 4G]

I think it might be more accurate to think about increasing nuclear charge in terms of protons as opposed to electrons! So when there is an increase in the atomic number as you move across a period, the increase in effective nuclear charge felt is stronger than the slight increase in electron-electron repulsion from the addition of one electron. This is why the atomic radius decreases across a period! But to answer your question, I guess we would say nuclear charge increases across a period.

[Alice Chang 2H]

According to the website here at https://wiki.ubc.ca/Effective_Nuclear_Charge_-_Definition_and_Trends:

The periodic table tendency for effective nuclear charge:

Increase across a period (due to increasing nuclear charge with no accompanying increase in shielding effect).
Decrease down a group (although nuclear charge increases down a group, shielding effect more than counters its effect).

Hope this helps!