Electron Affinity Trend
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Electron Affinity Trend
Can someone explain why electron affinity is the highest for elements in the top right of the periodic table?
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
Electron affinity is defined as the energy released when you add an e- to a gas phase atom to form a -1 ion. Elements at the top right have the highest electron affinity because they release the most energy to form that -1 ion. One explanation is that they become most stable when they gain that e-. For example, fluorine is a halogen, and if it gains an e-, it gains a noble gas configuration, which is very stable and low in energy. Therefore, it has the highest electron affinity because it becomes most stable when it gains that electron.
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
The elements on the top right of the periodic table have a negative (-) charge, which means they really want one electron to be neutral. This means they also have a high electron affinity.
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
Most nonmetals have a higher electron affinity since they have more valence electrons than metals and can easily attract more electrons and fulfill their octet. Also, nonmetals' valence electron shell is closer to the nucleus thus making it harder to remove electrons and easier for those elements to attract/remove an electron from another element (most likely a metal).
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
The further right you go, the more electro-negative an element is and the further up you go the more electro-negative an element becomes. Elements in the top right corner are the most electro-negative while those in the bottom left are the least electro-negative. Hope that helps..
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
Something that is also interesting is that Chlorine actually has a higher electron affinity than Fluorine. Fluorine is smaller than Chlorine, therefore there is less space availalbe in its 2p orbital. Chlorine's outer orbital is a 3p, so therefore there's more space for electrons to be shared in this space with one another.
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
The elements on the top right of the periodic table tend to be more electronegative because the nucleus exerts a stronger pull on the outer electrons and thus form octet configurations more easily.
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
Since electrons in the top right corner of the periodic table are closest to attaining eight valence electrons, they release more energy in order to receive that eighth electron and fill their outer shell.
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
As you travel up and towards the right across the periodic table, elements become more and more electronegative, therefore have a higher electron affinity (attractiveness). This is because as you go right, there's an increase in valence electrons, and electrons are more attracted to valence shells that are more full. Also, as you go up, atoms get smaller and n (the number of shells/outermost shell) gets smaller, they tend to have a higher electron affinity too!
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Re: Electron Affinity Trend
Can someone explain the difference between electron affinity, electronegativity, and ionization energy? Is there a way to easily distinguish the three?
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