d and f BLOCK ELEMENTS

What is the primary reason for the difficulty in studying the later actinoids?

• They are extremely stable
• They are found in abundance in nature
• They have very short half-lives and can only be prepared in nanogram quantities
• Their electronic configurations are unknown

What is the ground state electronic configuration of Neodymium (Nd, Z=60)?

• [Xe] 4f³ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f⁴ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f⁵ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f⁴ 5d¹ 6s¹

What is the ground state electronic configuration of Praseodymium (Pr, Z=59)?

• [Xe] 4f² 6s²
• [Xe] 4f³ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f⁴ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f³ 5d¹ 6s¹

What is the ground state electronic configuration of Cerium (Ce, Z=58)?

• [Xe] 4f² 6s²
• [Xe] 4f¹ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f¹ 5d¹ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f² 5d¹ 6s¹

What is the ground state electronic configuration of Lanthanum (La, Z=57)?

• [Xe] 4f¹ 6s²
• [Xe] 5d¹ 6s²
• [Xe] 4f¹ 5d¹ 6s¹
• [Xe] 4f⁰ 6s²