Question

Anomalous behavior of oxygen, compared to other VI A group elements is due to:
(A) Its high electronegativity
(B) Its small atomic size
(C) Non availability of d-orbital
(D) All

Answer 1

Hint: We know that oxygen is a p-block 16th group and 2nd period element. It has some properties different from other elements of its group.

Step by step solution:
There are some properties which are different from oxygen of other 16th group elements:

• In most compounds, oxygen shows -2 oxidation state. It also shows -1 in some compounds. It can’t exhibit higher oxidation state due to absence of d-orbitals. The other 16th group elements show -2, +2, +4 and +6 oxidation state.
• Water is(which is hydride of oxygen) liquid at room temperature whereas hydrides of other 16th group elements are gases, because there is hydrogen bonding in water molecules and there no such types of bonding in hydrides of 16th group elements.
• Molecular oxygen is paramagnetic while other members of the 16th group are diamagnetic.
• Oxygen has the lowest atomic number and lowest size then other elements of the 16th group. Oxygen is more electronegative than other elements of the 16th group.
  So, from the above explanation we can say that all the given options are correct. Then the answer is option “D”.

Note: The anomalous behavior of every first element in a group is due to the non availability of d-orbital in their valence shell, small size, high electronegativity.