Which area of the periodic table exhibits greater metallicness?

• A. Left and down
• B. Right and up
• C. Left and up
• D. Right and down

Answer: (A)

Metallic character is tied to how easily an atom loses electrons. It increases as you move down a group because outer electrons are farther from the nucleus and more shielded, so ionization energy drops and atoms lose electrons more readily. It also increases as you move to the left across a period, since left-side elements are metals that tend to lose electrons more easily than nonmetals on the right.

Because of these trends, the region with the greatest metallicness is the bottom-left part of the periodic table, where the heavier metals reside. The far top-right region contains nonmetals with very high ionization energies, and moving up or to the right decreases metallic character.