Question

Arrange the following in increasing order of their sizes:

• A. $P{b}^{3+}$
• B. $Pb$
• C. $P{b}^{2+}$
• D. $P{b}^{4+}$

Answer 1

Cations have less radius than the neutral atom because the electrons are removed from the neutral atom to form a cation. Since the number of protons is the same in each one of them, the outermost electron is pulled more towards the nucleus which has a higher charge that leads to reduce the atomic size.
Therefore the increasing order of atomic size is-$P{b}^{4+},P{b}^{3+},P{b}^{2+},Pb$