Gather data: Four other pairs of elements in the same chemical family are listed below. List the number of valence electrons in each element. Beryllium Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Magnesium Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine

Explanation:

Valence electrons is the number of electrons in the outermost shell of an atom. For the main group elements, the group number represents the number of valence electrons.

Beryllium

This belongs to the group 2 hence, it has valency of 2.

Nitrogen

This belongs to group 5, hence it has valency of 5.

Oxygen

This belongs to group 6, hence it has valency  of 6.

Fluorine

This belongs to group 7, hence it has valency of 7.

Magnesium

This belongs to group 2, hence it has valency of 2.

Phosphorus

This belongs to group 5, hence it has valency of 5

Sulphur

This belongs to group 6, it has valency of 6

Chlorine

This belongs to group 7, it has valency of 7

we can conclude that the melting point of table salt is above room temperature (it's actually 801 deg c). the melting point of mercury must be below room temperature (- 39 deg c).

it forms an anion that has a larger radius. anions have a negative charge and are larger than the original atom.