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Explain why neon is monatomic but chlorine is diatomic.

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Step-by-step explanation:

Neon is in group 8/0, which means that it has a full outer shell. Atoms react to get a full outer shell but as neon already has a full outer shell, it doesn't react and stays monatomic.

However, chlorine is in group 7, so it needs 1 more electron to complete its outer shell, two chlorine atom share one electron each with each other so they have full outer shells. This is why chlorine is diatomic.

User Variance
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Chlorine is a halogen and all halogens and oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are diatomics
User Peter Zacharias
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