Question

what is significance of term 'isolated gaseous atoms' and 'ground state' while defining the ionization enthalpy and electron gain enthalpy?

Answer 1

Dear Student,

The isolated gaseous atom means that the atom is in an ideal condition where is is in a vacuum. This is taken as ideal since there is nothing else around it to disturb or change its energy. As it is alone, the state is considered to be gaseous since a gas is generally taken as a state where the atoms are far away from each other.

Ground state means the lowest energy state. There can be many energy states of an atom. In terms of thermodynamics, the state with the most negative value of energy is considered as the most stable. This is the ground state.

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