Question

Explain why NH₃ is basic while BiH₃ is only feebly basic.

Answer 1

NH₃ is distinctly basic while BiH₃ is feebly basic.

Nitrogen has a small size due to which the lone pair of electrons is concentrated in a small region. This means that the charge density per unit volume is high. On moving down a group, the size of the central atom increases and the charge gets distributed over a large area decreasing the electron density. Hence, the electron donating capacity of group 15 element hydrides decreases on moving down the group.