Question

Would you regard zinc, cadmium and mercury as transition elements?

Answer 1

1. Zinc, cadmium, and mercury are not regarded as transition elements.
2. This is because they have completely filled d-orbitals in both their elemental form and common +2 oxidation state ions.
3. Transition elements typically have partly filled d-orbitals in their stable ions or elemental form.
4. Since Zn, Cd, and Hg lack partly filled d-orbitals, they do not show typical transition element properties.
5. However, they are often studied with d-block elements for classification purposes.