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sara asked in Science & MathematicsChemistry · 1 decade ago

1st I.E increases across a period, but the 1st I.E of Oxygen is less then of Nitrogen? why is this?

I.E; Ne>Cu>Ba (what about this one is it True os false?)

where I.E is Ionization Energy

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  • 1 decade ago
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    Oxygen has a lower I.E. than Nitrogen because the electron configuration of N is relatively more stable than that of Oxygen.

    Basically if you are doing electron diagrams of the two elements you see that the Nitrogen diagram contains three electrons in the three p orbitals, so each electron has its own orbital and all of their spins are aligned. This is a stable configuration.

    To make Oxygen you add one more electron to the nitrogen configuration and now you have two electrons in one of the p orbitals. This is less favorable.

    So because of the enhanced stability of the nitrogen configuration it is more difficult to remove an electron and therefore it has a higher ionization energy.

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