Why does fluorine have the highest electronegativity?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking why fluorine is considered to have the highest electronegativity among all elements, which involves understanding the trends of electronegativity in the periodic table and fluorine's atomic structure.
Answer
Fluorine has the highest electronegativity due to its 2p electron configuration, small atomic size, and high effective nuclear charge.
Fluorine has the highest electronegativity because it has 5 electrons in its 2p shell, is very close to an ideal electron configuration, has a small atomic size, and a high effective nuclear charge.
Answer for screen readers
Fluorine has the highest electronegativity because it has 5 electrons in its 2p shell, is very close to an ideal electron configuration, has a small atomic size, and a high effective nuclear charge.
More Information
Fluorine's electronegativity is nearly at the top of the scale, with a value of approximately 4. This makes it extremely reactive, especially in processes related to bonding with other elements.
Tips
Students often confuse electronegativity with electron affinity. While related, electronegativity is specifically the tendency of an atom to attract electrons in a chemical bond.
Sources
- Chemistry of Fluorine - chem.libretexts.org
- Why is fluorine the most electronegative atom? - chemistry.stackexchange.com
- Why does fluorine have the highest electronegativity of all ... - quora.com
