Polarizability vs Polarizing Power

[Shirley Liu 2I]

Are "polarizability" and "polarizing power" the same thing or are they opposites? Is polarizability the propensity of an atom to be polarized and polarizing power the ability of an atom to do the polarizing? Can someone explain in simple terms? Thank you

[Elaine Pham 2E]

They can be seen as opposites.
Polarizability refers to how an atom's electrons can get distorted or in other words feel the pull towards the positive nucleus of another atom. For example, the iodide ion has higher polarizability than a chloride ion because the electrons in the larger iodide ion are more loosely held to the nucleus. The electrons in the iodide ion feel more of a pull to a cation than a chloride ion does.
Polarizing power describes ions that cause large distortions. Smaller, highly charged cations such as Aluminum 3+ have high polarizing power. Electrons will feel a more attractive force from ions with high polarizing power.

[Saman Andalib 1H]

Essentially the two terms are opposites. Polarizing power is the ability for a certain cation to distort an anion. More positively charged cations such as Al3+ have a greater polarizing power compared to lesser charged ions. The tendency of the anion to become polarized by the cation is known as its polarizability. Larger anions have a much greater polarizability because it is much easier for a cation to distort their electron interactions.

[Jordan Lo 2A]

In general larger atoms have greater polarizability and more electronegative atoms have greater polarizing power

[Jordan Lo 2A]

not electronegative* just smaller cations