Hi,

 

Can someone explain 'Inert Pair Effect' to me. It is not in A'levels syllabus but is important in understading the stabilities of Group IV element. I have read all the books I have and got nothing out of it.

 

You can provide links that could explain it easily, if you like.

 

Thnxx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inert_pair_effect

 

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/glossary/i.shtml

agentchange thnx for them, I have tried wikipedia before. It is my first choice evertime I search for anything regarding chemistry. Have you or any1 else got a different link. Seriously, Google is of no help in this matter.

 

thnx anyway

Maybe this will help:

 

 

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/bonds/glossary.shtml

inert pair. inert pair effect.

Valence electrons in an s orbital penetrate to the nucleus better than electrons in p orbitals, and as a result they're more tightly bound to the nucleus and less able to participate in bond formation. A pair of such electrons is called an "inert pair". The inert pair effect explains why common ions of Pb are Pb4+ and Pb2+, and not just Pb4+ as we might expect from the octet rule.

 

 

Then, if you don't undestand any of the terms in the definition, you can "drill-down" and look those up too. I've embedded links within the definition I quoted above on certain key words. Hopefully this nudges you in the right direction to answer your query.

thnx 4 the help. I shall do as u say. I understand the terms you highlighted but wanted a broad yet easy explaination. But, hey thnx again.

broad and easy explanation eh? how about lower members of group 4 are less able to use their s electrons to form 4 bonds than that of say Carbon which promotes an 's' electron to a 'p' orbital = 4 unpaired electrons = 4bonds. So Pb is stuck with 2 paired s electrons (INERT PAIR) and 2 unpaired electrons = 2 bonds

 

hope that helps

Thnx alot testo! Cheers!