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Period 3 element


A period 3 element is one of the chemical elements in the third row (or period) of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when the periodic table skips a row and a chemical behaviour begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behavior fall into the same vertical columns. The third period contains eight elements: sodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and argon. The first two, sodium and magnesium, are members of the s-block of the periodic table, while the others are members of the p-block. Note that there is a 3d subshell, but it is not filled until period 4, such giving the period table its characteristic shape of "two rows at a time". All of the period 3 elements occur in nature and have at least one stable isotope.

As the atomic number of elements in Period 3 increases, the atomic radius decreases.

As the atomic mass of elements in Period 3 increases, the electronegativity increases.

As the atomic number of elements in Period 3 increases, the amount of energy required to remove its electrons (Ionization energy) increases.

Sodium (symbol Na) is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals such as feldspars, sodalite and rock salt. Many salts of sodium are highly soluble in water and are thus present in significant quantities in the Earth's bodies of water, most abundantly in the oceans as sodium chloride.


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