The amount of energy released when an electron is added to a species in the gaseous phase to form a negative ion. Not to be confused with [ionization-energy].
Questions tagged [electron-affinity]
73 questions
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Why does cesium have a positive electron affinity?
When an electron is added to cesium, why is energy released?
Isaac
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Why does K have a greater electron affinity than Ca?
Why will $\ce{K}$ have a greater electron affinity than $\ce{Ca}$? I know that $\ce{Ca}$ has a greater first ionization energy, and I also know that $\ce{K}$ has a greater second ionization energy, but I am confused on how to explain this.
AMRA
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For group 7 elements, are anions a lower energy state than being neutral atoms?
Given that electron affinity is positive, why don't these atoms attract free electrons and "prefer" to exist as anions? Never made sense to me — I could be missing something obvious.
Jon Wilcox
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Ca energy release when gaining an electron
Why does $\ce{Ca}$ have a negative electron affinity, i.e. energy is released when it gets an electron (ca. $\pu{-2 kJ/mol}$), when $\ce{Be}$ and $\ce{Mg}$ have positive values?
I know that the electron will be settled in the $\ce{3d}$ orbital…
EJC
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Why don't gases of elements with negative electron affinities exist as ions in nature?
Fluorine has an electron affinity of about -300 kJ/mol. Lithium has an electron affinity of about 60 kJ/mol.
As I understand it when $\ce{Li^-}$ loses an electron about 60 kJ/mol is released but when $\ce{F}$ gains an electron about 300 kJ/mol is…
Molly Stewart-Gallus
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Electron affinity of nitrogen and exchange energy
When studying the effects of electron filling in chemistry, I was studying why energy is needed to add an electron to a nitrogen atom i.e. electron affinity.
Nitrogen already has an electron structure of $\ce{1s^2 2s^2 2p^3}$ and using my knowledge…
David Smith
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Electron Affinity of Carbon and Silicon
Which has the greater affinity for an electron, Si or C and why? When thinking about the exception with F and Cl I would expect Si to have a greater electron affinity than C, but when I look at electron affinity values online I get mixed results.…
Rebecca
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Electron affinities of the alkali and alkali earth metals
According to my book, the former has a higher EA than the latter group of elements because alkali metals will attain $ns^2$ configuration whereas an alkaline earth metal in the same period will attain $ns^2np^1$. Fully and half filled configurations…
sato
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Electron Gain Enthalpy
When an electron ($e^-$) is added to $\ce{Cl}$ ,i.e.,
$$\ce{Cl + e^- -> Cl^- + ∆_{gh}H}$$
We can see that energy is released. My question is where is this energy coming from? What happens within the atom such that it loses energy and releases it to…
Kaushik
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