Group 16 or VIA of the periodic table consists of oxygen (O), sulphur (5), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te) and polonium (Po). The first four elements are often collectively called as chalcogens or ore forming elements because ores of many metals occur as oxides or sulphides. Oxygen is the most abundant element on the earth. It is found in the free form as gas (21% by volume). In the combined form it is found as water, oxides and oxysalts; the latter two forms of oxygen constitute 46.6% of the earth's crust. Sulphur occurs in the free state and also as sulphides and sulphates. The other three elements of the group are rare in occurrence; polonium is radioactive element.
Electronic Configuration of Elements of Group 16
| Element, Z |
Electronic |
configuration |
| Complete |
with lnert gas core |
| O, 8 |
\(1 s^2, 2 s^2 p^4 \) |
[He] \(2 s^2 p^4\) |
| S, 16 |
\(1 s^2, 2 s^2 p^6, 3s^2p^4\) |
[Ne] \(3 s^2 p^4\) |
| Se, 34 |
\(1 s^2, 2 s^2 p^6, 3 s^2 p^6 d^{10}, 4 s^2 p^4 \) |
[Ar] \(3 d^{10} 4 s^2 p^4\) |
| Te, 52 |
\(1 s^2, 2 s^2 p^6, 3 s^2 p^6 d^{10}, 4 s^2 p^6 d^{10}, 5 s^2 p^4 \) |
[Kr] \(4 d^{10} 5 s^2 p^4\) |
| Po, 84 |
\(1 s^2, 2 s^2 p^6, 3 s^2 p^6 d^{10}, 4 s^2 p^6 d^{10} f^{14}, 5 s^2 p^6 d^{10}, 6 s^2 p^4\) |
[Xe] \(4 f^{14} 5 d^{10} 6 s^2 p^4\) |
The electronic configuration of these elements shows that all elements of this group have ns2p4 valence electronic configuration and hence they are expected to resemble each other in several properties. Further like other groups, the first element oxygen does not have any d-orbital (because here n = 2 which can have only two orbitals s and p) while all other elements of this group have vacant d-orbitals and hence oxygen differs from other elements of the group in several respects.
