Polarizing Power for Na+, Mg2+, Li+, Be2+

[Daniel Lai]

Why is the polarizing power from least to greatest Na+, Mg2+, Li+, Be2+? I get why Na+ is the least and Be2+ is the greatest but I do not get why Li+ would be greater than Mg2+. Li+ is larger than Mg2+ according to the diagram of ionic radii in 1F.3 7th Edition and it has a lesser charge, so wouldn't it have a smaller polarizing power than Mg2+? Please help me.

[Nikitha_lakshminarayanan3I]

I think Mg 2+ is bigger according to the atomic radii trend

[Daniel Lai]

Yea, but i thought we use ionic radius because these are ions?

[Jonathan Pai 2I]

Lit is smaller so it has stronger polarizing power. You might be confusing poloarizing power with polarizability.

[Daniel Lai]

In the books section on ionic radius Li+ is bigger than Mg2+.