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Study the information given below for magnesium and calcium.


a).Explain the trend in ionization energies between magnesium and calcium.
b).Explain why the two elements have higher #2^(nd)# ionization energies than the #1^(st)# one.

Answer Text:
a).Magnesium has smaller atomic and ionic sizes resulting in stronger nuclear attraction for valence electrons as compared to calcium.
b).The nuclei formed after the first ionization have greater number of protons or nuclear charge than the respective original atoms making it more difficult to remove the second electron.