The transition elements Cambridge IGCSE Combined Science revision
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In plain words
The big block in the middle of the Periodic Table holds the metals you actually know: iron, copper, nickel, zinc's neighbours. These transition elements are the tough, dense, useful ones, and their compounds are often brightly coloured.
Three things to know
- Compared with Group 1 metals, transition elements are harder and stronger, and have higher densities and higher melting points.
- They form coloured compounds, and many act as catalysts, as elements or in compounds: iron in the Haber process.
- Their ions can have more than one charge (oxidation number): iron forms Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺.
Tips and tricks
- Four words to remember: dense, high-melting, coloured, catalysts.
- A coloured compound is a clue. Blue or green usually means copper; iron compounds are green or brown.
It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.
The transition elements: 5 questions and answers
These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.
Which is a typical property of transition elements?
Many of their compounds are coloured.
Compared with Group 1 metals, transition elements have what?
They are hard, dense metals with high melting points.
Which of these is a transition element?
Iron is in the central block of the Periodic Table.
Iron forms Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions. What does this show about transition elements?
Group 1 metals only ever form 1+ ions.
Many transition elements and their compounds are used as what?
Iron and vanadium(V) oxide are examples.
Quiz
5 questions
Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.
Worksheet
3 questions, 6 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.
The transition elements
Cambridge IGCSE Combined Science 0653 · 6 marks · papermunch.org
Name ______________________________ Date ______________
Give three ways in which transition elements differ from the Group 1 metals.[3]
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Any three: higher density; higher melting point; harder and stronger; coloured compounds; act as catalysts; ions with more than one oxidation number; less reactive.
Name the transition element used as the catalyst in the Haber process.[1]
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Iron.
Copper(II) sulfate is blue and sodium sulfate is white. State what this suggests about copper and sodium.[2]
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Copper is a transition element (they form coloured compounds); sodium is not.
Answers: The transition elements
- 1. Any three: higher density; higher melting point; harder and stronger; coloured compounds; act as catalysts; ions with more than one oxidation number; less reactive.
- 2. Iron.
- 3. Copper is a transition element (they form coloured compounds); sodium is not.