Question

Which property of zinc, cadmium and mercury is common as their atomic number is considered?

Answer 1

Hint: Zinc, cadmium and mercury belong to the same group that is 12 (II b) and are known as zinc group elements. Zinc, cadmium and mercury are also studied under transition elements.

Complete step by step answer:
Zinc, cadmium and mercury are together called zinc group elements and constitute Group 12 (II b) of periodic table. So, they have a lot of properties in common but they sometimes also differ in some aspects. Zinc, cadmium, mercury, these have a silvery white appearance. These metals also have relatively low boiling points and melting points. And the most noticeable thing is that mercury is the only metal that exists in liquid form at room temperature which signifies its very low boiling point that is obviously lower than any other metal. These metals are also found in different proportions in the earth. The atomic numbers zinc, cadmium and mercury are 30, 48 and 80 respectively which make them lie under the same group. The valence electrons of zinc, cadmium and mercury are in \[n{s^2}\] . Thus, zinc, cadmium and mercury, these elements have 2 valence electrons so these elements have common properties.

Note: Zinc, cadmium and mercury, the three metals are also not considered under the transition elements or metal because they have completely filled orbit. Their electronic configuration is represented by $(n - 1){d^{10}}n{s^2}$ . The orbitals of these elements are completely filled in the ground state and also in oxidation state but they are also especially because they are studied with transition elements as they exhibit a lot of similar characteristics properties to Transition elements.