Polarizability

[Ziyi Meng 2K]

Hi,

Can someone help me remember what is polarizability and what are the trends of polarizability in the periodic table?

[Arpita Padhy 3E]

Polarizability increases going down a group but decreases going across a period.

[Hannah Choi 1K]

Polarizability is an atoms ability to be polarized (gain a dipole moment), typically referring to anions. The larger the anion, the greater the polarizability. Hence, the trend would be that polarizability increases down and to the left of the periodic table.

[cnyland]

Hi!
As mentioned, polarizability follows the atomic radius trend, so bigger atoms (down a group, to the left of the periodic table in a row) are more polarizable AND I also wanted to mention that this connects very closely to the covalent character of a bond, so if you have a very big, highly polarizable anion and a small, highly charged cation, there is going to be more covalent character than there would be compared to something where the two molecules are very close in electronegativities.

[Brooklyn Burgess 3L]

It increases as you go down a group because more electrons in outer shells which are less tightly held.

[elletruchan2I]

Hi!
As mentioned, polarizability follows the atomic radius trend, so bigger atoms (down a group, to the left of the periodic table in a row) are more polarizable AND I also wanted to mention that this connects very closely to the covalent character of a bond, so if you have a very big, highly polarizable anion and a small, highly charged cation, there is going to be more covalent character than there would be compared to something where the two molecules are very close in electronegativities.

This was super helpful and addressed the prompt so well, thank you!

[Misheel Enkhbold 1C]

Polarizability follows the same trend as atomic radius and the opposite trend of electronegativity.