I was going through a BR practice questions today and ran into this problem, which I narrowed down to 2 answers:
How can the reduced radii of transition metal cations be explained?
A) Transition metals lose their outermost electrons from the 4s-orbital, when becoming a cation
C) Transition metals lose their highest-energy electrons from the 4s-orbital, when becoming a cation
The answer was A. I understand why the outermost electrons are at the 4s orbital, but aren't these outermost electrons also the highest-energy electrons? So isn't it technically both of these answers?
How can the reduced radii of transition metal cations be explained?
A) Transition metals lose their outermost electrons from the 4s-orbital, when becoming a cation
C) Transition metals lose their highest-energy electrons from the 4s-orbital, when becoming a cation
The answer was A. I understand why the outermost electrons are at the 4s orbital, but aren't these outermost electrons also the highest-energy electrons? So isn't it technically both of these answers?