Old Nov 9, 2004 | 07:50 PM
  #14  
Kestrel's Avatar
Kestrel
Push to shock!
 
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,583
Likes: 0
From: Palo Alto, CA
Default

Well yeah so basically the answer is that the radii get smaller because you have more protons attracting each electron as you go up in atomic number. The reason n = 4 atoms are bigger than n = 3 atoms is because the inner shell shields the outer electrons from the nucleus.
Reply