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Topic: Ionization energy for multi-electron atoms.  (Read 3749 times)

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Offline Fridushka

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Ionization energy for multi-electron atoms.
« on: October 13, 2009, 02:03:11 PM »
well i just searched here for IE1, IE2 and IE3..and i found enough old topic..in which i found values for them..and IE1 was the smallest..but why?  :-\

thanks  :)

Offline Fridushka

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Re: Ionization energy for multi-electron atoms.
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2009, 02:07:57 PM »
Oppps sorry it was supposed to be in the inorganic..
And i know it may be a stupid question..but I'm totally new to the material.. :-X

Offline renge ishyo

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Re: Ionization energy for multi-electron atoms.
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2009, 02:46:52 PM »
For the first ionization energy the outermost electron is removed. This requires the least energy because this electron is farthest away from the positively charged nucleus. After this electron is removed, the rest of the electrons are pulled in closer to the plus charged ion making it even harder to remove the second electron (which probably would have been harder to remove anyways because in most cases it would already be closer to the nucleus than the first electron was to start with).

If you look at IE's closely you can begin to understand why certain ions like sodium tend to form their normal values such as sodium forming Na+ and not Na2+ under "normal" chemical situations. You are told it is for "octet stability", but it is really because the second ionization energy for sodium is much much higher than the first.

Offline Fridushka

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Re: Ionization energy for multi-electron atoms.
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2009, 03:03:13 PM »
Ohhh i got it thanks a lottt :)

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