Polarizing power

[Allen Chen 1J]

How does whether it is a cation or anion affect polarizing power?

[Enzo_1I]

Polarizing power is used to refer to the ability of a cation to distort an anion. while polarizability refers to the tendency for an anion to become polarized by a cation.

[Shimran Kumar 1C]

Polarizing power refers to an atoms ability to pull an electron toward it, polarizing the atom the electron comes from. Since cations are positive, they are able to attract electrons toward themselves. Anions are negative and so do not attract more electrons.

[Jacob Samuels 1E]

One way to think of it is that cations have different polarizing power while anions have different polarizabilities.

[Mei Blundell_1J]

Also, small and highly charged cations have high polarizing power while large anions have high polarizability (distorted easily).

[MadelynNguyen1F]

Cations have polarizing power while anions have polarizability.

[AnnaYan_1l]

Anions become highly polarized, while cations have polarizing power.

[Odalys Cuevas 1C]

Im having trouble understanding this topic so I was wondering if anyone can explain the difference between polarizing power and polarizability and provide a quick example.

[Andre-1H]

Im having trouble understanding this topic so I was wondering if anyone can explain the difference between polarizing power and polarizability and provide a quick example.

Polarizing power and polarizability refer to cations and anions respectively and helps determine the covalent character of ionic bonds. For example Na+ and Cl- are the cation and anion in the ionic bond NaCl. Na+ has a polarizing power which distorts the electrons of the chlorine and attracts them towards the sodium atom. Chlorine's tendency to have its electrons distorted is referred to as polarizability.

[Molly Oakes 1A]

Cations have polarizing power (ability to distort anions) and anions have polarizability (ability to be distorted by cations).

[Shione Nakahara 1F]

The ability of a cation to distort an anion (or pull an electron away) is known as the polarizing power.