March 28, 2024, 06:39:14 AM
Forum Rules: Read This Before Posting


Topic: Pauling scale of electronegativity  (Read 13216 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

gwen

  • Guest
Pauling scale of electronegativity
« on: March 27, 2004, 01:20:04 PM »
Please help. In pauling scale for electronegativities,i thought that among the metals the bigger the pauling scale the less reactive the metal is. The pauling scale for Pb is 2.33, Pt 2.28,
Au 2.54, Ni 1.91, Cu 1.90. From what I have been taught ,copper is less reactive than lead but why is the pauling scale for lead higher than copper? Isnt nickel more reactive than copper? But the scale for nickel is higher than copper. Could some 1 explain to me the relevance of these scales in terms of their chemical reactivities? Thank you.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2004, 07:11:16 PM by hmx9123 »

Offline Donaldson Tan

  • Editor, New Asia Republic
  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3177
  • Mole Snacks: +261/-13
  • Gender: Male
    • New Asia Republic
Re:need help in pauling scale
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2004, 12:12:16 AM »
Pauling Scale is a measure of electronegativty. The more electronegative an element is, the stronger is its attraction for electrons localised inside a covalent bond. This leads to a stronger covalent bond (and subsequently polar). Hence, Pauling Scale may be used as a measure of reactivity for non-metals.

Metal's reactivity is dependent on their electropositivity. The easier for a metal to lose electrons, the more reactive it is. This is, in fact, in reverse nature to electronegativity. Hence, a metal with lower value in the Pauling Scale is more reactive than another metal with a higher value in the Pauling Scale  :D
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

Sponsored Links