Electronegativity

Definition: Electronegativity

Electronegativity

Noun

1. (chemistry) the tendency of an atom or radical to attract electrons in the formation of an ionic bond.

Synonym: Electronegativity

Synonym: negativity (n). (additional references)

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Specialty Definition: Electronegativity

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Electronegativity is a measure of the attraction that an atom has for electrons in a covalent bond.

Two scales of electronegativity are in common use: the Pauling scale (proposed in 1932) and the Mulliken scale (proposed in 1934). There is also a Allred-Rochow scale.

Pauling Scale

The Pauling Scale is a widely used, empirical scale of electronegativity values, originally developed by Linus Pauling in 1932. On this scale, the most electronegative element (fluorine) is given a value of 4.0, while the least electronegative element (francium) is given a value of 0.7. The other elements are assigned electronegativity values in between. The elements in the second period of the Periodic Table usually have rounded values :

Li : 1.0
Be : 1.5
B : 2.0
C : 2.5
N : 3.0
O : 3.5
F : 4.0

Mulliken Scale

On the Mulliken scale, numbers are obtained by averaging ionization potential and electron affinity. Consequently, the Mulliken electronegativities are expressed directly in energy units, usually electron volts.

Electronegativity Trends

Each element has a characteristic electronegativity ranging from 0 to 4 on the Pauling scale. A strongly electronegative element, like fluorine, has an electronegativity of 4 while weakly electronegative elements, such as lithium, have values close to 1. Electronegativity trends are to higher values for elements in the top right of the periodic table. Bonds between atoms with a large electronegativity difference (greater than or equal to 2.0 on the Pauling scale) are usually considered to be ionic, while values between 2.0 and 0.4 are considered polar covalent. Values below 0.4 are considered non-polar covalent bonds.

Electronegativity decreases down the periodic table and increases across, as shown below. Additionally, atomic radius decreases across but ionization energy increase.

-> Atomic radius decreases -> Ionization energy increases -> Electronegativity increases ->
Group	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Period
1	H 2.1																	He
2	Li 1.0	Be 1.5											B 2.0	C 2.5	N 3.0	O 3.5	F 4.0	Ne
3	Na 0.9	Mg 1.2											Al 1.5	Si 1.8	P 2.1	S 2.5	Cl 3.0	Ar
4	K 0.8	Ca 1.0	Sc 1.3	Ti 1.5	V 1.6	Cr 1.6	Mn 1.5	Fe 1.8	Co 1.9	Ni 1.8	Cu 1.9	Zn 1.6	Ga 1.6	Ge 1.8	As 2.0	Se 2.4	Br 2.8	Kr
5	Rb 0.8	Sr 1.0	Y 1.2	Zr 1.4	Nb 1.6	Mo 1.8	Tc 1.9	Ru 2.2	Rh 2.2	Pd 2.2	Ag 1.9	Cd 1.7	In 1.7	Sn 1.8	Sb 1.9	Te 2.1	I 2.5	Xe
6	Cs 0.7	Ba 0.9	Lu	Hf 1.3	Ta 1.5	W 1.7	Re 1.9	Os 2.2	Ir 2.2	Pt 2.2	Au 2.4	Hg 1.9	Tl 1.8	Pb 1.9	Bi 1.9	Po 2.0	At 2.2	Rn
7	Fr 0.7	Ra 0.9	Lr	Rf	Db	Sg	Bh	Hs	Mt	Ds	Uuu	Uub	Uut	Uuq	Uup	Uuh	Uus	Uuo

Periodic table of Electronegativity using the Pauling scale

Usage Frequency: Electronegativity

"Electronegativity" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Electronegativity" is used about 6 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	6	143,867

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Electronegativity

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
electronegativity	36
chart electronegativity	6
electronegativity periodic table	4
electronegativity table	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Electronegativity

Language		Translations for "electronegativity"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Hungarian		elektronegativitás (electron affinity), elektronaffinitás (electron affinity). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		電気陰性度 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		で�"きい�"せいど. (various references)

Pig Latin		electronegativityay.(various references)

Swedish		elektronnegativitet. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: Electronegativity

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-e-g-i-i-l-n-o-r-t-t-t-v-y"
	-3 letters: teratogenicity.
	-4 letters: interactively.
	-5 letters: acetonitrile, inveterately, retinotectal, revegetation.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.