Question

Nitrogen has positive electron gain enthalpy whereas oxygen has negative. However, oxygen has lower ionization enthalpy than nitrogen. Explain
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Answer 1

Explanation:

Oxygen has 2p4 electrons, so process of adding an electron to the p-orbital is exothermic. Oxygen has lower ionisation enthalpy than nitrogen because by removing one electron from 2p-orbital, oxygen acquires stable configuration, i.e., 2p3