Transition Metals

Definition: Elements which form one or more stable ions which have incompletely filled subshells. A d-block element has its highest energy electron in the d-orbital.

PROPERTIES:

• ductile
• malleable
• sonorous
• lustrous
• can form coloured compounds and ions
• can form complexes
• can show catalytic activity.
• variable oxidation states
• have high melting and boiling temperatures
• strong metallic bonds to small ionic size and close packing

There are small fluctuations in the general trend of increasing ionisation energies due to the relative stability of full and half-full subshells.

Electrons are always removed from the 4s subshell BEFORE the 3d subshell.

+1, +2 and +3 are the most common oxidation numbers…