The Effect of Electronic Configuration on Chemical Properties:
- The chemical properites of an atom depend on the strength of the atraction between the outer electrons and the nucleus. These in turn depend on the number of protons and on the electronic configuration, and so it follows that these two factors are instrumental in determining the chemical properties of an atom.
- This is in contrast with the neutron number however, which has no effect on the chemical properties of an atom. Neutrons have no charge and hence exert no attractive force on the nucleus.
- Therefore, Isotopes tend to have very similar chemical properties since they have the same atomic number and the same electronic configuration. They differ only in number of neutrns, which do not directly influence the chemical properties of an element.