What is the trend in ionization energy as atomic number increases within alkali earth metals, halogens, and noble gases?

1 Answer
Aug 12, 2018

The trend in all families of elements is that as the atom gets larger the ionization energy decreases.

Explanation:

As the outermost electrons are further from the positive nucleus there is less attraction between the negative electron(s) and the nucleus. As there is less attractive force it requires less energy to remove the electron and so a lower ionization energy