How to find valence electrons using ionization energy?
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Asked by Shivani
Jan 5, 2015
How to find number of valence electrons using ionization energy?
How to find number of valence electrons using ionization energy (of a hypothetical atom)? eg.-IE1-52,IE2-114, IE3-540, IE4-735
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Swathi Ambati
Member since Apr 28, 2014
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Ionization Energy is the minimum energy required to remove the outermost electron from a gaseous neutral atom to form a cation. The unit for ionization energy is electron volts or kilo joules per mole.
The energy required to remove the most loosely bound electron is called the first ionization enthalpy. The energy required to remove the second and the third electron is termed as the second ionization enthalpy and the third ionization enthalpy respectively.
The second ionization enthalpy (IE₂) will always be higher than the first ionization enthalpy (IE₁). IE₂>IE₁ This is because, on removing an electron, the unipositive ion formed will have more effective nuclear charge than the number of electrons. Due to this, the nuclear attraction on the electrons increases and hence, more energy is required to remove an electron from the unipositive ion.
To find the number of valence electrons see where there is a significant change in the ionization energies.
In the above mentioned example there is no much difference between the first and second ionization energies. But there is a considerable difference is observed between second and third ionization energies. Here significant jump in the ionization energies is observed between second and third ionization energies. Hence, we can conclude that there are two valence electrons.