I have the following assignment question:
Which member of the following pairs would you expect to be larger:
a) Li or F
b) Li or Li+
c) F or F-
a) At first I thought Li and F would be about the same size since they both have electrons in the first 2 orbitals. But then I read somewhere that sizes get smaller as you move along a period from left to right because the increased number of protons draws the electron orbitals tighter towards the centre, so F would be smaller than Li :?: And then someone told me that F would be bigger than Li because it has more electrons and a p orbital as well s orbitals.
So now I'm confused :? I'm inclined to go with the second option, F being smaller than Li...
Any comments please :?:
b) I assume Li+ is smaller than Li since in losing an electron it also loses the only electron it had in the 2nd orbital plus the protons will draw the remaining 2 electrons tighter to the shell :?:
c) F and F- would be the same size:?: since the extra electron would fit into the same outer orbital (valence orbital :?:) as the electrons already there :?:
Any comments most appreciated...