Question

Explain the following observations :
(i) Fluorine does not exhibit any positive oxidation state.
(ii) The majority of known noble gas compounds are those of Xenon.
(iii) Phosphorus is much more reactive than nitrogen.

Answer 1

(i) Since fluorine is the most electronegative element , it shows only a negative oxidation state of -1, and does not show any positive oxidation state.
(ii) Since Xenon (Xe) has least ionization energy among noble gases and hence it is readily form chemical compounds particularly with `O_(2)` and `F_(2)` .
(iii) Since nitrogen forms triple bond between the two N-atoms and the phosphorus forms single between two P-atoms and bonds dissociation energy of nitrogen (941.4 kJ `mol^(-1)` is larger than the bond dissociation energy of phosphorus (213 kJ `mol^(-1)` ) . Hence phosphorus is much more reactive than nitrogen.