Why is the ionization energy of the oxygen atom LESS than that of the nitrogen atom? Should not the greater atomic number of oxygen increase ionization energy?
2 Answers
This is arguably a consequence of
Explanation:
And thus for the
.....rather than spin pairing.... which must occur for the ground state of the oxygen atom,
And thus the reaction....
Because Nitrogen is more stable than Oxygen because of half-filled electronic configurations.
Explanation:
As we know that Hund's rule states half-filled and full-filled orbitals are more stable. The electronic configuration of Nitrogen and Oxygen are as below:
Nitrogen =
Oxygen =
Note: p-subshell orbital can carry 6 electrons.
When we look at the above electronic configuration of Nitrogen and Oxygen, the p-subshell orbital is half-filled for nitrogen whereas Oxygen has one extra electron than half-filled configuration. So, Nitrogen is more stable than Oxygen and it requires higher energies to ionizes. And also when oxygen is ionized, it goes to the stable electronic configuration (half-filled electronic configuration).