Electron Affinity

[Albert Chen 1G]

Hello, I was wondering what exactly Electron Affinity is and the periodic trend for it? Are there any exceptions?

[Lindsay Beckwith 2B]

Electron affinity in simple terms is how badly an atom wants to hold onto their electrons, such as when forming bonds. Electron affinity increases in the upward and rightward direction on the periodic table (imagine an arrow drawn from the bottom left to the top right). If you think about this in terms of bonding, this makes sense in that as you move towards the right on the periodic table, the elements have more full valence shells. This means it would be easier for them to get electrons to satisfy the octet rule than to give, so they are more likely to hold onto their electrons and take from another.

[LouiseLin2L]

Electron affinity is the degree to which an atom attracts electrons. A high electron affinity indicates that the atom easily accepts/takes electrons and a low electron affinity indicates that the atom does not easily accept additional electrons. On the periodic table, electron affinity increases upward and from left to right.

[Yajing Feng 2J]

Electron affinity is the degree to which an atom attracts electrons. The more upper right you go the higher the electron affinity.

[mmcqueen]

Hi! One of the other comments touched on this but in order to understand WHY atoms want to hold on to their electrons, you should understand the octet rule. Basically, in order to fill a full valence shell, which creates stability, atoms need 8 electrons in a valence shell. The closer the atom is to filling the shell (i.e. 5,6,7 electrons) the more desperate the atom is to attract the remaining electrons needed. The farther the atom is to filling the shell (i.e. 1,2,3,4 electrons) the more likely the atom will give those electrons up during bonding and drop a valence shell. Hope this helps!

[Arshaun Faraji 2H]

Electron affinity is basically how much an atom attracts electrons. For example, an atom with a high electron affinity will easily gain electrons. On the other hand, an atom with a low electron affinity will have a very hard time accepting new electrons. As you move up and to the right on the table, the electron affinity increases. Meaning that the top right has the highest electron affinity and the bottom left has the lowest.

[AashaK]

Electron affinity is just another way to say Electronegativity, which is how much an atom can attract electrons. Electronegativity tends to increase going from left to right on the periodic table, and bottom to top. This means that the elements with the highest electronegativity are on the top right of the periodic table.

Hope this helps!

[805401611]

Electron affinity is pretty much the measure of attraction between the incoming electron and the nucleus of an atom, where the stronger the attraction, the more energy released. The periodic trend increases from left to right and bottom to top on the table. The exceptions to this rule would be with Chlorine and Fluorine, as fluorine has a lower affinity compared to chlorine, and I believe Table 15.

[Ameen Shaheen 2I]

Electron affinity is basically just the amount of energy released when regarding electrons and their level of attraction and the periodic trend increases from bottom to top, left to right.

[Angela Harrington 2L]

Electron affinity increases going left to right across the periodic table, and it increases starting down a group (at the bottom of the periodic table) going up.

[Natasha]

Electron affinity is the ability or degree of an atom to hold onto their atoms or essentially keep them from being taken. Atoms that have a more full valence shell are more likely to take electrons from other atoms that are not as full in order to fill their octet rule.

[105605391]

Electron affinity is the level in which a molecule or atom attracts additional electrons. In terms of periodic trends, electron affinity increases as you go from left to right and down to up on the periodic table with the halogens having the strongest electron affinity. The noble gases on the end however have an electron affinity of zero, as their valence shells are full and they are not attracting an additional electron.

[Martha Avila 1I]

Hello! Electron Affinity is the degree to which an atom attracts electrons. I recently watched a video regarding this topic and found a very helpful tip. In terms of most energy released by gaining an electron you should remember this series of numbers, 76 45 13 28. If you refer to this series of numbers they will tell you period has the highest electron affinity. So period 7 contains the elements that will have the most amount of energy released by gaining an electron followed by 6, 4, 5 and so on. Hope this helps.

[Hannah Carsey 1B]

The electron affinity (Eea) of an atom or molecule is defined as the amount of energy released when an electron is attached to a neutral atom or molecule in the gaseous state to form a negative ion. Electron affinity is the degree to which an atom or molecule attracts additional electrons, it is the minimum energy required to remove an electron from a negative ion to produce a neutral atom or molecule.

[Srikar_Chintala_1E]

Electron affinity refers to how badly an atom wants an electron. For instance, Fluorine just needs 1 electron to reach a stable noble-gas configuration, so it has a high electron affinity. Generally, electron affinity increases from left to right, and it decreases when you go down a group.

[SuryaDham 3E]

electron affinity is the inverse of ionization energy, meaning it is the energy released when an electron is attached to a species to form an ion. The trend is that it decreases down a group, and increases across a period

[Elizabeth Kim 2K]

Hi! Electron affinity is the amount of energy released when an electron is attached to a neutral atom/molecule in the gaseous state. Electron affinity increases across a period and decreases down a group. Hope this helps!

[Aashna Bhandari 1L]

Hi! Electron affinity the degree to which an atom holds onto its electrons. In other words, it is the electronegativity of the atoms. The trend on the periodic table for this characteristic is increasing from left to right and decreasing top to bottom. I found this video very helpful in explaining this concept. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhLijA77WQE