Which elements can be diatomic and why?
Motivation
Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen and the Halogens tend to be thermodynamically stable as a diatomic molecule at room temperature, and are usually labelled as diatomic nonmetals. (Although I am unsure about Astatine). These are the ones you learn in school and I am fine with their reasoning. I want to know about other elements in particular.
Looking at the rest of the non-metals: Carbon, Phosphorus and Sulfur have diatomic molecules in gaseous states. All with a common theme of being heated at very high temperatures.
This leaves us with diatomic Selenium which I could not find anything on.
Further notes
Diatomicity doesn't seem to be just a non-metal thing:
No comments:
Post a Comment