Identify the element in period 3 that requires the least amount of energy to remove the most loosely held electrons from a mole of gaseous atoms of the element in the ground state.

The energy required to release the last electron from an atom in its ground state and transform it into a gaseous state is known as ionization energy. Sodium requires least amount of energy to remove electrons from ground state.

Thus, due to the large ionic radius of sodium it has the least ionization energy making it the element from period 3 with which requires the least amount of ionization energy.

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The element is Na

Explanation:

Ionization energy is the energy needed to release the last electron from an atom in its ground state to the gaseous state.  It is a periodic property that increases as we go through the periods of the periodic table, but decreases if we move in groups.  Sodium has thr ionic radius (another periodic property) that is too large, making it easier to release the electron away, since it is too far from the nucleus.

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