Despite the similarities in the chemical reactivity of elements in the lanthanid

Question

Despite the similarities in the chemical reactivity of elements in the lanthanide series, their abundances in Earth's crust vary by two orders of magnitude. This graph shows the relative abundance as a function of atomic number. How do you explain the sawtooth variation across the series? Stable isotopes of elements with odd numbers of protons are much more abundant than isotopes of elements with even atomic numbers. Radioactive isotopes of elements with odd numbers of protons are much more abundant than isotopes of elements with even atomic numbers. Radioactive isotopes of elements with even numbers of protons are much more abundant than isotopes of elements with odd atomic numbers. Stable isotopes of elements with even numbers of protons are much more abundant than isotopes of elements with odd atomic numbers.

Explanation / Answer

Lanthanides are all stable non-radioactive isotopes and as seen from the graph the elements with odd atomic number exhibit lower abundance in nature. So of the given options, (D) is the correct answer i.e. Stable isotopes of elements with even number of protons are much more abundant that isotopes with odd number of protons.

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