Achieve #30

[Ziyi Meng 2K]

Hi,

I am working on this question:

"Arrange these elements according to electron affinity.

Most energy released by gaining an electron.




Most energy absorbed by gaining an electron.


Elements: Be, Ge, Br "

Can someone explain this question to me? What is electron affinity? What does the "released" and "absorbed" suppose to mean? How do you solve this question?

[Ella_hou]

The release of energy corresponds to a transition to a more "stable state" (stable state= 8 valence shells) The element that is most likely to gain an electron will release the most energy. Br gains the most stability by the addition of an electron because it is one electron away from a full valence shell of 8. Therefore Br will release the most energy by gaining an electron.

[Emily Quill 2H]

Hi! The electron affinity is the energy required or released when an element gains an electron. It releases energy the closer to 8 electrons an element has because it is attempting to reach a more stable state of having a full outer shell. On the other hand, an element with 1 valence electron would absorb energy in order to gain another electron.

[Noah Ho 1F]

The closer an atom's valence shell is to a full 8 electrons(or full shell), the greater it wants that electron since it'll release more energy. As a result, electron affinity generally increases moving from left to right. Be has the least number of electrons so it'll have the lowest electron affinity with Br being at the other end.

[Grace_Wu]

Electron affinity is the amount of energy released when an electron bond to a neutral atom. In the periodic table, the p orbital atoms generally have higher electron affinity since they are close to fulfill the shell and be stable. Hope that helps!

[Jamie Park 2F]

Thank you for the explanations, everyone!

[Uma Patil 2A]

I think of electron affinity as how 'badly' an atom wants an extra electron. if an atom is very close to filling out it's valence shell, gaining an electron is highly desirable. The full valence shell is energetically stable; this means that when an electron goes from unbounded to filling the valence shell of another atom, it goes from high energy to low energy (and energy is released).