Ionization Energies

[marg44]

Ionziation energies increase going up and to the right so would Helium have the highest ionization energy?

[Sierra Cheslick 2B]

Yes, helium has the highest ionization energy since it's in the upper right corner of the periodic table.

[Anna O 2C]

This is also because Helium is a noble gas. Since it also has very few orbitals and energy shells in the ground state, the electrons experience little to no shielding and thus require extreme amounts of energy to remove electrons.

[Aakash Tammana 3H]

Thats right, Helium Electrons are held very tightly by the nucleus, as you go down the periodic table the electrons get further and that pull gets weaker.

[Tessa Lawler 1A]

There are occasionally exceptions to the trend rules for ionization energy, electronegativity, and atomic radii, but since the general trend for ionization energy is that it increases going up and to the right, and I don't know of any exceptions where an element would have a higher ionization energy than He, it's safe to assume that He, being the furthest to the right and up on the periodic table, has the highest ionization energy of all the elements.

[604656370]

How would you determine these trends for diagonal (non-adjacent) elements? For example, between Carbon and Sulfur.

[EllaBerry]

Yes helium would have the highest ionization energy.

[Tony Chung 2I]

That is correct. Helium has the highest ionization energy.

[charlotte_jacobs_4I]

Remember that Ionization energy is how much energy it takes to create an ion from a stable molecule. This will be very high for noble gases, because they are so stable.

[Karla_Ocampo 4E]

Hi! Yes since ionization energies decrease from top to bottom within a group. For example, also Fluorine also has a high ionization energy. Also, Cesium is said to have the lowest ionization energy.

[Jeannine 1I]

How would you determine these trends for diagonal (non-adjacent) elements? For example, between Carbon and Sulfur.

I think between those two, carbon would have a higher ionization energy because sulfur is in period 3, which means it has another shell around the nucleus. The extra shell shields valence electrons from the nucleus, which generally makes it easier to take one away, which is what ionization energy is. Thus, it would take more energy to remove an electron from carbon (2 shells) rather than sulfur (3 shells).

That was a good point though, hopefully we never have to compare two elements that could be similar in ionization energies.

[Rehan Chinoy 1K]

Yes, Helium (He) has the greatest ionization energy.

[Karishma_1G]

Yes, Helium has the highest ionization energy! This is because the electrons in helium are very close to the nucleus and so the electrostatic attraction is very high. This makes it difficult to remove an electron.

[Elizabeth Kim 4E]

Yes and it is very hard to release an electron because the electrons are so tightly packed to each other