Atomic Radius

[Cytlalli 1B]

How do you find the atomic radius of elements?

[Jose Lupian 1C]

I believe that the only way is by measuring the distance between the nuclei of two touching atoms of the same element. Then you would have to divide the distance by two in order to get the radius of that element's atom.

[Ismail 1F]

The atomic radius of an element depends on its location on the periodic table. In general, the more left you go on a certain period, the atomic radius will increasingly decrease. As you move downwards, the radius will increase in size, as electrons fill in valence shells. Hope that helps!

[Maria Trujillo 1L]

The radius is half of the diameter. According to what I recall in lecture, most atoms are about one Ångström in length which is 1x10^-10, smaller than a nanometer (1x10^-9). I'm sure it differs between atoms. However, if you are searching the for the radius of an atom, I assume you add the length(s) that you are given and then divide by 2 in order to get the atomic radius. We haven't really gone over this topic in much detail, but I hope this helps! Good luck!

[Chem_Mod]

Are you talking about experimentally finding the atomic radius? This is a wonderful question.

Because the electron cloud has no limits and is very loosely defined, it really depends on the criteria that scientists impose as the boundary. One way to look at it is to look into the bond length of the diatomic atoms and determine the radius by dividing by 2.