2nd Ionization Energy

[Rebecca Epner 4A]

What makes the second ionization energy of any given element consistently much higher than the first?

[KnarGeghamyan1B]

The first ionization energy is how much energy is needed to remove an electron from a neutral atom. The second ionization energy is how much energy is needed to remove an electron from a positively charged atom, meaning it has already lost an electron. It would take more energy to remove a second one because the shell will be farther from complete.

[Zaynab Hashm 2I]

It is much easier to remove an electron from a neutral atom using the first ionization energy, however, after you take the first electron, the atom becomes positive in charge. The positive charge of the atom creates a higher attraction that becomes rather hard to break apart. Therefore, it requires a significantly higher second ionization energy to remove a second electron.

[Natalie Nartz 4F]

When removing an electron in the first ionization you ultimately make the atom more positive, which makes it harder for the second removal of an electron since now there is a stronger positive charge pulling on the electron.

[Rida Ismail 2E]

The first ionization energy is how much energy is needed to remove an electron from a neutral atom. The second ionization energy is how much energy is needed to remove an electron from a positively charged atom, meaning it has already lost an electron. It would take more energy to remove a second one because the shell will be farther from complete.

Going on with this comment. The positively charged atom has a positive net charge. This means that there is a strong positive pull on all of the negative electrons. Because the pull is much stronger, it is more difficult and requires more energy to pull out a second electron.

[Zoya Mulji 1K]

Something to also consider: the 1st ionization energy is easier because the atom would be neutral and when you remove an electron, the charge becomes positive and the attraction on that 2nd electron would be higher

[RoshniVarmaDis1K]

When you remove an electron and form a cation, that cation has less electron-electron repulsion. This allows the remaining valence electrons to be held tighter by the nucleus, making them harder to remove.

[Jasmine 2C]

The way I thought of it was with the element Fluorine as an example. Fluorine has 1 valence electron. After the first ionization energy is used(?) (I don't know if used is the correct word for this) to remove that valence electron, the rest of Fluorine's electrons is in an octet, where the electrons are stable. Because the electrons in the octet are stable, you would need a much larger amount of energy to remove an extra electron from that octet because, think of it as, the electrons are happy being where they are.