My Daily Blogs

In p- block elements the last electron enters the outermost p orbital. As we know that the number if p- orbitals is three and therefore the maximum no of electrons that can be accommodated in a set of p orbitals is six. Consequently there are six groups of p- block elements in the periodic table numbering from 13 to 18. Boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine and helium heads the groups. Their valence shell electron configuration is ns(2) np(1-6) except for helium. 

The inner core of the electronic configuration may, however, differ. The difference in the inner core of the elements greatly influences their physical properties(such as atomic and ionic radii, ionization enthalpy,etc) as well as chemical properties. A lot of variation in properties of elements in a group of p- block is observed. The maximum oxidation state shown by a p- block element is equal to the total number of the valence electrons. Clearly, the number of possible oxidation states increases towards the right of the periodic table. In addition to this so called group oxidation state, p- block elements may show other oxidation states which normally differ from the total number of valence electrons by unit of two. in Boron, Carbon and Nitrogen families the group oxidation state is most stable for the lighter elements in the group.