Removing the second electron

[Victoria Luu - 1C]

Why is removing the second electron harder? Does it have to do with the pull from the nucleus on the electron?

[Anushi Patel 1J]

Once the first electron is removed, the atom becomes a positive ion. It has an overall positive charge, so removing another electron from it would be much harder than removing an electron from a neutral atom due to the electrostatic attraction between the nucleus and electrons.

[Charles Gu 1D]

Since there are fewer electrons in the outer shell, each electron has a stronger attractive force. This causes it to be harder to remove.

[Olivia Young 1A]

Removing a second electron from an atom is much harder than removing the first electron because there is a higher electrostatic attraction. This is represented through ionization energies; the first ionization energy is the energy required to remove an electron, and the second ionization energy is the energy needed to remove the second electron. Once that first electron is removed, the other electrons experience a higher attraction to the nucleus and less repulsive forces between electrons. Therefore, removing the second electron is much harder since the attraction to the nucleus is higher.

[Anna O 2C]

Removing the second electron generally requires more energy because of the proton's net positive charge. When the first electron is removed, the positive pull of the protons gains more power over the fewer electrons still left in orbital. Thus, more energy is then required from an outside source to remove the second electron.

[Kevin ODonnell 2B]

Here are some numbers to give some of the reasons above some more concrete evidence. For Al it takes 577.6 kJ/mol to remove the 1st electron, 1816.6 for the second, 2744.7 for the third, and 11,577 for the fourth. Looking at these numbers it makes sense why it is a lot easier to gain 4 electrons than lose all four in that case as well.

[Hannah Pham 1D]

Removing the second electron is a lot harder because of the net charge of the atom becomes more positive after removing the first electron, so removing the second electron requires more energy.

[Henry Dudley 1G]

Once the first electron is removed, the atom becomes a positive ion. It has an overall positive charge, so removing another electron from it would be much harder than removing an electron from a neutral atom due to the electrostatic attraction between the nucleus and electrons.

Does this mean removing a third electron is even harder than removing the second?

[Xinyi Zeng 4C]

Once the first electron is removed, the atom becomes a positive ion. It has an overall positive charge, so removing another electron from it would be much harder than removing an electron from a neutral atom due to the electrostatic attraction between the nucleus and electrons.

Does this mean removing a third electron is even harder than removing the second?

Yes, and removing the fourth is harder than removing the third and so on, as the cation will have an increasing charge, from +2 to +3 and to +4, which also denotes a more effective nuclear charge.