The Periodic Table Imagine you are given a mystery element. It is, however, a discovered and known element. You may perform a maximum of two observations or tests to determine its identity. Time and money is critical, so you need to prioritize your tests. If you can get by with a single test, you get 100 super-geek points from your research lab team. Pick your two tests, number them as #1 and #2, and justify why you think these two will certainly be enough (and why the first might well be enough all by itself.) The available tests are classification into metal, non-metal, or metalloid, count of valence electrons, count of electron shells, atomic radius (error range: +/- 1 pm), electronegativity (error range: +/- 0.1), first ionization energy (error range: +/- 10 kJ/mole), melting point (error range: +/- 10 C), and boiling point (error range: +/- 20 C).
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