What are the trends useful for?

[Aj1156]

When would you use the IE, EN, EA, and AR trends?

[ChathuriGunasekera1D]

You could use IE to determine if a bond has more ionic character or covalent character. The greater the difference between IE between the elements, the more ionic character is has. The others have uses too, but I can't think of any right now.

[timschaeffer Dis 1J]

The IE and EA trends are also important when making lewis structures because the atom with the lowest ionization energy (or the lowest electron affinity) should be used as the central atom.

[Ramsha Dis1B]

You can use the atomic radius to determine how strong the bonds will be between two atoms that bond together. If there is a bigger radius between two atoms that are bonded together and you compare the strength of the bond to another two bonded together, you can tell which will be stronger, and stay together better.

[Lucy Agnew 3E]

The trends are also useful to predict/determine where an element would be in the periodic table!

[Rehan Chinoy 1K]

When drawing a Lewis Structure, the atom with the lowest ionization energy is the central atom. So, for example, hydrogen is never the central atom.

[MichaelMoreno2G]

Can someone explain why we use [Ar]

[spark99]

Can someone explain why we use [Ar]

You can use Atomic radius to also tell ionization energy. The general trend for atomic radius is that it decreases from left to right across the period, which means the nucleus has a greater pull on the electrons, causing their radius to be smaller. So, ionization energy also increases from left to right because it takes more energy to take an electron away if the nucleus has a greater charge. You can connect these two trends, and can be useful if you have one information and not the other.

[Jaqueline Monreal 2L]

the trends are useful for figuring out which element does in the center when drawing a lewis structure

[angelagd3l]

they can help you with figuring out how to draw the lewis structures or electronic configurations

[Jennifer Torres 2L]

Trends help with determining unknown elements.

[Jamie Hsu]

Trends are generally helpful as they give us useful information when drawing Lewis Structures. For example, the electronegativity trend can give us a good idea as to what element to put in the center because we want the least electronegative element in the center.

[Sophie Roberts 1E]

All of these trends feed off of each other so it is important to understand all of them. For instance, ionization energy feeds off of atomic radius, as the smaller the radius, the higher the ionization energy, because the pull from the nucleus is greater. Another significant reason to know these trends is for the formation of lewis structures, as the least electronegative atom or the atom with the lowest IE will be the center atom; and the atomic radius will also help with the strength of the bonds.