basic chemistry questions

[soccerpie]

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In the EK book it asks:

A naturally occuring sample of which of the following has the smallest density at room temperature?

A. carbon
B. Fluorine
C. Nitrogen
D. Oxygen

the answer is C, but i dont understand why i thought it was fluorine because it has the largest mass and smallest atomic radius(smallest volume)? could someone explain why its its nitrogen?

all the best

 

[loveoforganic]

A is out because it's a solid, so let's look at B, C, and D.

Traveling from left to right on the periodic table, you have nitrogen, oxygen, then fluorine. Nitrogen has the smallest MW of those as it's furthest to the left. They're all diatomic gases in the same row, so pretty much the only thing you have to look at for differences is MW.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Density = Mass/Volume

 

[homestar]

I think that it is fair to say that EK asks some ridiculous questions. That's something that you look up in a book, not a straightforward periodic trend.