Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Tve on July 30, 2005, 10:04:44 AM
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Hey, this is my first post, so I just wanted to ask:
If you have a large atom, can its electrons on its outermost shell be more attracted to a smaller atoms nucleus than its own?
Its just that I know that the further away the electron is from its nucleus, the weaker the pull it has on it, so I wondered if it could be lost altogether to another atom, but maybe this is just how certain bonding works. I really dont know...
Tve
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that's true and that's also why we have an increasing strength in reducing power in the group of the halogenes F to I.
Consider that F has fewer electrones than Cl. Cl has less then Br and Br less then I. Less electrones means a smaller nucleus, since you need less protons to compensate the charge from the elctrons.
Now because I has many electrones that are far away from the nucleus, it's easy to steel an electron from I. When we look to F, the elctrons are relatively close to the nucleus and therefore it's a lot harder to take an electrone from F.
So F can easily take an electron from I(-), for example. But Cl can take an electron from F(-), because Cl pulls less to it's electrons then F does.
Above examples is an example of oxidation and reduction.
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yes, but also for another reason: the bigger atom has alot of electrons that repel the "charge" of the electron about to be discharged. the smaller atom has less electrons in which to repel the "charge" of the electron to be taken in.
if u'll like to learn more, try http://notes.chem.usyd.edu.au/course/masters/Chem1/Special%20Topics/Polarizability/Polarizability%20Applications.htm the notes there should be simple to understand.