Memorizing trends

[Tania Peymany 1A]

What is a good way to memorize all the different trends of the periodic table? What are some of your strategies, or do you have any tricks to remember them all and the exceptions within the trends?

[Anna Guan]

I like to remember the reasoning behind all the trends and it really helps me to remember. For example, for ionization energy, the energy to remove an electron, the closer the electrons are to a full shell, the more energy you will need to remove the electron because it's almost stable, so the closer the atoms are to the right, the more energy needed. Also, if there's more orbitals/shells, there's more shielding from the nucleus, so it'll take less energy to remove the electron. That means that when you go down the periodic table it'll take less energy to remove an electron.

[Jacqueline Vargas 3L]

Hello,

I think that looking for connections/relationships between the trends can help with memorization. For instance, atomic radius has an inverse relationship with atomic number since as the number of protons increases, their positive charge causes the electrons to be closer to the nucleus, and atomic radius decreases. Overall, making sure you understand the why behind periodic trends should make it easier to memorize them.

[Caitlin_Tang_Dis3H]

I personally like visualizing things on the periodic table so I remember that Ionization Energy, Electron Affinity, and Electronegativity get larger as you go to the upper right corner. Whereas atomic radius and metallic character as you go towards the left corner.

[Mia Orr 3B]

I think understanding the reasoning behind all of the trends will help you the most with memorization! You can always label a periodic table with arrows describing each trend (for example: an arrow going across the periods that tells you that ionization energy increases, and an arrow that goes down the groups that tells you that ionization energy decreases) just so you have something easy to refer back to if you need a quick reminder!

[Samantha Melin 2E]

The best way for me to memorize trends in the periodic table is to have a visual memorized. I will link a picture of the periodic table below with arrows describing trends in ionization energy, electron affinity, and atomic/ionic radii.

https://www.thoughtco.com/chart-of-peri ... nds-608792

[505807269]

Remember that as you move to the upper right corner, the Ionization Energy, Electron Affinity, and Electronegativity increase. As you move towards the left corner, the atomic radius and metallic character become more prominent. I usually tend to memorize the trends by making connections with elements and their properties in the periodic table.

[Bruce Ruff 2B]

I think it helps to understand the reasoning behind the trends rather than just memorizing them. Ex. atomic radius gets smaller from left to right because more protons in the nucleus leads to stronger pulling of electrons. Once you get the reasoning behind trends, they are more solidified in your head. And, in case you forget a trend, you can use your conceptual understanding of atoms to determine what the trend is.