Polarizability vs Polarizing power

[Miriam Sheetz 2B]

What is the difference between polarizability and polarizing power?

[Rian Montagh 2K]

Polarizability is how easily an atom or molecule can be polarized, and polarizing power is how well a species can polarize another species.

[Sarah_Kang_2K]

You should refer to page 79 of the textbook for a summary of the 2 concepts!

[daniella_knight1I]

Polarizability is how easy it to pull an electron from a molecule, and polarizing power is how much the other atom pulls electrons towards it. For example, if one atom is pulling the electrons of another atom in a bond, it has high polarizing power and the other atom has high polarizability.

[Rebecca Park]

polarizing power is the way that cations pull electrons from anions
polarizability is the ability to pull the electrons towards the anions

[Sophie Roberts 1E]

Polarizability is related to anions and how readily able they are to have their electron cloud distorted by the cation. Polarizability increases as atomic radius increases because more electron shielding.
Polarizing power is related to cations and their ability to distort the electron cloud of anions. Polarizing power is higher if the cation is smaller and highly charged.

[Imelda Mena 3I]

In determining which molecules have higher polarizing power, what is more significant their charge or their size? For example what is the process we take to determine Rb+ has a higher polarizing power than Sr2+?

[Kassidy Tran 1E]

In determining which molecules have higher polarizing power, what is more significant their charge or their size? For example what is the process we take to determine Rb+ has a higher polarizing power than Sr2+?

Rb+ actually has a lower polarizing power than Sr2+. Since Sr2+ has a higher charge than Rb+ it has a higher polarizing power. I generally look at charge first, then size. For example between Rb+, Sr2+, and Be2+, we can distinguish that Rb+ has a lower polarizing power than Sb2+ and Be2+ since it has a lower charge. Then, we can determine that Se2+ has a lower polarizing power than Be2+ since it is larger than Be2+, therefore there is greater shielding from the electrons. If listed in order of increasing polarizing power, it should be Rb+ < Sr2+ < Be2+.

[Imelda Mena 3I]

Thank you for the clarification Kassidy! And when determining which has a higher polarizability the size matters more right?