In chemistry and atomic physics, main group elements are elements in groups (periodic columns) whose lightest members are represented by helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine as arranged in the periodic table of the elements. Main group elements include elements (except hydrogen) in groups 1 and 2 (s-block), and groups 13 to 18 (p-block). Group 12 elements are usually considered to be transition metals; however, zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) share some properties of both groups, and some scientists believe they should be included as main group elements.
In older nomenclature the main group elements are groups IA and IIA, and groups IIIB to 0 (CAS groups IIIA to VIIIA).
Main group elements (with some of the lighter transition metals) are the most abundant elements on the earth, in the solar system, and in the universe. They are sometimes called the representative elements.
Famous quotes containing the words main, group and/or element:
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)
“The boys think they can all be athletes, and the girls think they can all be singers. That’s the way to fame and success. ...as a group blacks must give up their illusions.”
—Kristin Hunter (b. 1931)
“All forms of beauty, like all possible phenomena, contain an element of the eternal and an element of the transitory—of the absolute and of the particular. Absolute and eternal beauty does not exist, or rather it is only an abstraction creamed from the general surface of different beauties. The particular element in each manifestation comes from the emotions: and just as we have our own particular emotions, so we have our own beauty.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)