Periodic Trends

[Simrina Desar Dis 1H]

In class we looked at the trends in ionization energy for atoms in the gaseous phase. How does this trend affect the atoms in other states, like liquid and solid?

[Andrea Grigsby 1I]

Ionisation Energy for atoms would be different when they're in the gaseous state than in other states - which is the easiest way to compare the energy required between different atoms as there is very little attraction with other atoms. In liquids/solids, the intermolecular forces will distort the value of the Ionisation energy which makes it really hard to compare/ establish a trend

[Chem_Mod]

Remember that the definition of ionization energy is the amount of energy required to remove the most loosely bound electron from an atom in the gaseous state similarly the electron affinity is the amount of energy released when an electron is added to an atom to form an anion. As Andrea said, in real systems this is too complicated to determine, so in order to establish an exact definition--it must be stated in this form, it must include these parameters.