JEE Advanced Chemistry question

Which of the following factors may be regarded as the main cause of lanthanide contraction?

(A)Greater shielding of 5d-electron by 4f-electrons
(B)Poorer shielding of 5d-electron by 4f-electrons
(C)Effective shielding of one 4f-electrons by another in the subshell
(D)Poor shielding of one of 4f-electrons by another in the subshellCorrect

Answer: (D)

Solution

The fundamental cause of lanthanide contraction is that electrons within the same subshell shield each other from the nucleus very poorly (due to the diffuse, non-penetrating shape of -orbitals). As a result, each successive increase in

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Question ID VK-159796