Which will have greater electron affinity, Oxygen or Fluorine?
Which will have greater electron affinity, Oxygen or Fluorine?
- Electron affinity:
Electron affinity is defined as the amount of energy released when an electron is added to a neutral atom forming a negative ion. Whenever an atom achieves stability, it releases extra energy. Thus, the atoms that can easily accept electrons have higher electron affinity, and the atoms that need to put some effort to accept the electrons have lower electron affinity.
- Electron affinity of Oxygen Vs Electron affinity of Fluorine:
Oxygen: The electronic configuration of Oxygen is [He] 2s² 2p⁴. Thus, it needs 2 electrons to complete its octet and it will accept the coming electron.
Fluorine: The electronic configuration of Fluorine is [He] 2s² 2p5. Fluorine needs only 1 electron to complete its octet, thus it will accept the electron more readily as it wants to stabilize itself.
Therefore, the electron-accepting tendency of Fluorine is more as compared to Oxygen as after accepting one electron it will achieve the stable configuration and thus will release extra energy.
- Hence, the electron affinity of Fluorine is greater than the electron affinity of Oxygen.
- Electron affinity:
Electron affinity is defined as the amount of energy released when an electron is added to a neutral atom forming a negative ion. Whenever an atom achieves stability, it releases extra energy. Thus, the atoms that can easily accept electrons have higher electron affinity, and the atoms that need to put some effort to accept the electrons have lower electron affinity.
- Electron affinity of Oxygen Vs Electron affinity of Fluorine:
Oxygen: The electronic configuration of Oxygen is [He] 2s² 2p⁴. Thus, it needs 2 electrons to complete its octet and it will accept the coming electron.
Fluorine: The electronic configuration of Fluorine is [He] 2s² 2p5. Fluorine needs only 1 electron to complete its octet, thus it will accept the electron more readily as it wants to stabilize itself.
Therefore, the electron-accepting tendency of Fluorine is more as compared to Oxygen as after accepting one electron it will achieve the stable configuration and thus will release extra energy.
- Hence, the electron affinity of Fluorine is greater than the electron affinity of Oxygen.
