Ionization Energies

[Jennifer Guzman 4C]

Can someone explain the difference between the first ionization energy and the second ionization energy please ? Thank you!!

[Becky Belisle 1A]

The first ionization energy is the energy required to remove an electron from a neutral atom (same number of protons and electrons), whereas the second ionization energy is the energy required to remove an electron from an ion with a charge of 1+. The atom is an ion because the number of electrons is one less than the number of protons.

[Letizia Ye 4F]

The first ionization energy is the energy required to remove one mole of electrons from a neutral atom, while the second ionization energy is the energy required to remove another mole of electrons from the ion at its already positively charged state.

[Sophia Ding 1B]

To add on, the second ionization energy will always be higher than the first ionization energy as well! The second ionization energy is the energy required to remove a second electron after one has already been removed (first ionization energy), so because of the greater positive charger from the loss of the first electron, there will be less shielding of the electrons and therefore a stronger pull of the electrons to the nucleus thus being much harder to remove a second electron and having a higher ionization energy.