Answer
See the explanation
Work Step by Step
To determine which plot corresponds to which element, we need to analyze the trend of ionization energies for each element.
Ionization energy is the energy required to remove an electron from an atom or ion in the gaseous state. It generally increases across a period from left to right in the periodic table due to increasing effective nuclear charge.
In the case of the given elements, magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), and silicon (Si), we can make the following observations:
1. Magnesium (Mg): Mg is located in Group 2 of the periodic table. It has two valence electrons in its outermost energy level. The first ionization energy of Mg will be relatively low since it only requires the removal of one electron from the outermost energy level. The second ionization energy will be significantly higher since it involves removing an electron from a completed energy level closer to the nucleus.
2. Aluminum (Al): Al is located in Group 13 of the periodic table. It has three valence electrons. The first ionization energy of Al will be higher than that of Mg since it requires the removal of an electron from a partially filled energy level. The second ionization energy will also be higher but not as significant as the jump observed in Mg. The third ionization energy will be even higher since it involves removing an electron from a completed energy level closer to the nucleus.
3. Silicon (Si): Si is located in Group 14 of the periodic table. It has four valence electrons. The first ionization energy of Si will be higher than that of Al since it requires the removal of an electron from a completely filled energy level. The second ionization energy will be higher but not as significant as the jump observed in Mg and Al. The third ionization energy will be even higher since it involves removing an electron from a completed energy level closer to the nucleus.
Based on these observations, we can conclude that the plot with the huge jump in energy between \( I_{2} \) and \( I_{3} \) corresponds to magnesium (Mg). This is because Mg has a completed energy level closer to the nucleus, and removing an electron from that energy level requires significantly more energy compared to removing an electron from the partially filled or completely filled energy levels of Al and Si, respectively.
