JEE Main Chemistry question

Pentavalence in phosphorus is more stable compared to that of nitrogen, even though they belong to the same group. This is due to

(A)Inert nature of nitrogen
(B)Reactivity of phosphorus
(C)Larger size of the phosphorus atomCorrect
(D)Dissimilar electronic configuration

Answer: (C)

Solution

Phosphorus, being in period 3, is large enough to have energetically accessible orbitals and enough room sterically to accommodate five bonded atoms, allowing it to

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Question ID VK-145959