Oxygen and Chlorine [ENDORSED]

[Isabel Nakoud 4D]

Why is Oxygen more electronegative than Chlorine? (they are both adjacent to Fluorine so how would we be able to distinguish between them when looking at a periodic table)?

[angelagd3l]

i think since chlorine is larger than oxygen (because it has more valence shells than fluorine)

[davidbakalov_lec2_2L]

The electronegativity of an element is determined by the element's electron affinity and its ionization energy. The difference in the electronegativity between the two elements is quite small, but the main reason for it is because chlorine is one period below oxygen. Chlorine's valence electrons are thus less tightly bound than those of oxygen, so they would have a lower first ionization energy. However, I don't think we will be asked to distinguish between such nearby elements on a test unless we are given values.