Question

How is electronegativity related to ionisation energy?

Answer 1

Hint: As we know that the electronegativity is the force of attraction of an atom to its own electrons and other electrons whereas the ionisation energy is that energy which is required by an atom to remove a valence shell electron.

Complete step-by-step answer:
We already know that the ionisation energy is that amount of energy which is required to remove an atom’s electron and we also know that the ionisation energy increases while we move from left to right in the periodic table and while moving from top to bottom the ionisation energy decreases. This is because of the size of an atom which affects the strength of the forces between the proton and its electron. So, we can say that the value of atomic radius is larger, then the ionisation energy becomes lower as the space between the protons and electrons becomes larger and the force becomes lesser.

Electronegativity is basically the same in trends of the ionisation energy because while moving down the group, it decreases with decreases in atomic radius since its protons are closer to its electrons and thus able to exert more force on each other. And while moving from left to right the electronegativity increases because the number of charges increases on the nucleus. Thus we can say that the ionisation energy and electronegativity are related in terms of their trends in the periodic table.

Note: Remember that the electron affinity which is the energy required to gain an electron, electronegativity and ionisation energy, all these three quantities possess the similar trends in the periodic table that is they all increases while moving from left to right and all decreases while moving from top to bottom.