Waht is Consequences of lanthanoid contraction …

Consequence of Lanthanide Contraction:

• Separation of Lanthanides:Due to the similar sizes of the lanthanides, it is difficult to separate them but due to lanthanide contraction their properties slightly vary (such as ability to form complexes). The variation in the properties is utilized to separate them.
• Basic Strength of Hydroxide: Due to the lanthanide contraction, size of M3+ions decreases and there is increase in covalent character in M–OH and hence basic character decreases.
• Similarity of second and third transition series:The atomic radii of second row transition elements are almost similar to those of the third row transition elements because the increase in size on moving down the group from second to third transition elements is cancelled by the decrease in size due to the lanthanide contraction.