Noble gases and transition elements
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The teaching part (1 min) is free to watch. A free account opens the whole lecture: 3 worked examples, 5 practice questions, 2 real past-paper questions with the answers explained, the mistakes that lose marks, the full-marks tip, a one-card summary and a quick quiz.
What this lecture covers
- The loners and the workhorses
- The noble gases
- Physical properties
Read the transcript of the teaching part
Last time
Before we start: last time, in Halogens and transition elements, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.
The loners and the workhorses
Helium in a party balloon never reacts with anything. Iron, copper and nickel make our bridges, wires and coins, and their compounds come in every colour. At opposite ends of the middle of the table, you will find the noble gases, which refuse to react, and the transition elements, which do almost everything.
The noble gases
The noble gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon, in Group VIII. They have full outer shells. Helium has 2 electrons, neon 2,8 and argon 2,8,8. A full shell is stable, so they do not gain, lose or share electrons. They are unreactive.
Physical properties
They are monatomic. They exist as single atoms, not molecules. They are colourless gases at room temperature, with very low melting and boiling points. Going down the group, the density and the boiling point increase.
How often it comes up
How often Cambridge has asked each part, counted by ExamYard from every past paper in its question bank: Properties of noble gases · Properties of transition elements · Noble gases · Transition elements.
The whole chapter: The Periodic Table, The Periodic Table.
Chapter 8: The Periodic Table
- The Periodic Table and trends across a period 6 min
- Group I metals 6 min
- Halogens and displacement reactions 6 min
- Noble gases and transition elements 6 min
Also for IGCSE Chemistry 0620
Which topics come up most in IGCSE Chemistry 0620 past papers, counted from every paper since 2004.