2nd electron

[Elyssa Smith 4B]

Can someone explain why removing the 2nd electron is harder?

[Audrie Chan-3B]

I think that when you remove the first electron that is unpaired, the second electron will be in a lower orbital and will be paired. Since it is paired, it requires more energy to remove it and is therefore harder to remove.

[Rita Chen 1B]

You can think of it like you are making an atom that is already more positive than it should be, even more positive. It will be harder because the atom wants to keep that electron and you are taking it away from its stable form and the form in which it has no net positive or negative charge.

[005391550]

You can also think of it like once you remove the first electron, there are less total electrons which means less electron electron repulsion so the positive nuclear charge pulls harder on the remaining electrons

[chrischyu4a]

Whenever you remove the first electron, you create a cation. So technically, the nuclear charge is greater which is why the second ionization energy is always significantly larger than the first.