Electronegativity

The elements with the highest ionization energies are generally those with the most negative electron affinities, which are located toward the upper right corner of the periodic table. Conversely, the elements with the lowest ionization energies are generally those with the least negative electron affinities and are located in the lower left corner of the periodic table.

Because the tendency of an element to gain or lose electrons is so important in determining its chemistry, various methods have been developed to quantitatively describe this tendency. The most important method uses a measurement called electronegativity (represented by the Greek letter chi, χ, pronounced “ky” as in “sky”), defined as the relative ability of an atom to attract electrons to itself in a chemical compound. Elements with high electronegativities tend to acquire electrons in chemical reactions and are found in the upper right corner of the periodic table. Elements with low electronegativities tend to lose electrons in chemical reactions and are found in the lower left corner of the periodic table.

Unlike ionization energy or electron affinity, the electronegativity of an atom is not a simple, fixed property that can be directly measured in a single experiment. In fact, an atom’s electronegativity should depend to some extent on its chemical environment because the properties of an atom are influenced by its neighbors in a chemical compound. Nevertheless, when different methods for measuring the electronegativity of an atom are compared, they all tend to assign similar relative values to a given element. For example, all scales predict that fluorine has the highest electronegativity and cesium the lowest of the stable elements, which suggests that all the methods are measuring the same fundamental property.

Electronegativity is defined as the ability of an atom in a particular molecule to attract electrons to itself. The greater the value, the greater the attractiveness for electrons.

Electronegativity is a function of:

1. the atom's ionization energy (how strongly the atom holds on to its own electrons) and
2. the atom's electron affinity (how strongly the atom attracts other electrons).

Both of these are properties of the isolated atom. An element will be highly electronegative if it has a large (negative) electron affinity and a high ionization energy (always endothermic, or positive for neutral atoms). Thus, it will attract electrons from other atoms and resist having its own electrons attracted away.