question

[Mohamad Farhat 1L]

what is the difference between electron affinity and electronegativity?

[kimberlysanchez-1E]

electron affinity is the energy released when electrons are added
electronegativity is the attraction an atom has in order to get more electrons

[Tiffany Chen 1A]

Electron affinity is how likely an atom will take an electron or how much it "wants" an electron. Electronegativity is how strongly an atom will attract shared electrons to itself (more related to bonding). Both electron affinity and electronegativity show similar trends on the periodic table (decrease as you move down a group, increase as you go across a period).

[Johanna Caprietta 1E]

For both electron affinity and electronegativity, there is an increases as you go across the periodic table and a decrease as you go down the periodic table.

[kimberlysanchez-1E]

Electron affinity is how likely an atom will take an electron or how much it "wants" an electron. Electronegativity is how strongly an atom will attract shared electrons to itself (more related to bonding). Both electron affinity and electronegativity show similar trends on the periodic table (decrease as you move down a group, increase as you go across a period).

it seems to me that what you're saying is that both of them are basically the same thing?

[Tiffany Chen 1A]

Electron affinity is how likely an atom will take an electron or how much it "wants" an electron. Electronegativity is how strongly an atom will attract shared electrons to itself (more related to bonding). Both electron affinity and electronegativity show similar trends on the periodic table (decrease as you move down a group, increase as you go across a period).

it seems to me that what you're saying is that both of them are basically the same thing?

They're similar but electronegativity is specifically about one element being bonded with another element so that they both share electrons (the element with the higher electronegativity will pull the electrons closer to itself, but the electrons are still shared). I think electron affinity is more general.

[Nimrat Brar 1E]

Electronegativity is a chemical property that says how well an atom can attract electrons towards itself while the electron affinity of an atom or molecule is defined as the amount of energy released when an electron is added to a neutral atom or molecule in the gaseous state to form a negative ion.