Exercise 1 Question 1
Silver atom has completely filled d orbitals (4d10) in its ground state. How can you say that it is a transition element?
The transition elements are those elements having a partially filled d or f subshell in any common oxidation state. The term "transition elements" most commonly refers to the d-block transition elements. Ag has a completely filled 4d orbital (4d10 5s1) in its ground state. Now, silver displays two oxidation states (+1 and +2). In the +1 oxidation state, an electron is removed from the s-orbital. However, in the +2 oxidation state, an electron is removed from the d-orbital. Thus, the d-orbital now becomes incomplete (4d9). Hence, it is a transition element.
