d-block elements
The metallic elements are the most numerous of the elements and of the metallic elements the d-block elements are the most important: their chemical properties are central to both industry and contemporary research. The two terms d-block metal and transition metal are often used interchangeably; however, they do not mean the same thing. The name transition metal originally derived from the fact that their chemical properties were transitional between those of the s and p blocks. Now, however, the IUPAC definition of a transition element is that it is an element that has an incomplete d subshell in either the neutral atom or its ions. Thus the Group 12 elements (Zn, Cd, Hg) are members of the d block but are not transition elements. In the following discussion, it will be convenient to refer to each row of the d block as a series, with the 3d series the first row of the block (Period 4), the 4d serie...