Transition Elements
Echelon tutorial
Transition elements also known as the transition metals on the periodic table.
They can be defined as elements having a d-sub shell that is partially filled with
electrons or an element having ability to form stable cations with incomplete d-
orbitals.
Examples of transition metals below
The above shows the position of transition metals .
Electronic configuration of the first series of transition
elements.
Transition Elements 1
The above gives a description of the general electronic configuration.
Now, the list of the first two rounds of transition metals with their corresponding
electronic configuration is tabulated above. It can also be noted in some of the
elements the configuration of electrons corresponds to (n-1)d¹⁰ ns¹ or (n-1)d⁵ ns¹.
This is because of the stability provided by half filled or completely filled electron
orbital.
Transition Elements 2
General properties of transition metals
These elements form colored compounds and ions. This color is explained by
d-d transition of electrons
There is a relatively low gap in energy between the possible oxidation states.
Many paramagnetic compounds are formed by these elements , because of
unpaired electrons in the d orbital.
A large variety of ligand can bind themselves to these elements. Due, to this ,
a wide variety of stable complexes are formed by transition elements
These elements have a large ratio of charge to radius
Transition metals tend to be hard and have relatively high densities when
compared to other elements
The boiling and melting point of these elements are high due to the
participation of demoralised electronics in metallic bonding
This metallic bonding of delocalized d-electrons also causes the transi
Transition Elements 3
