Do atoms with higher electronegativity for positive or negative ionic bonds?

1 Answer
anor277
May 23, 2017

Atoms with high #"electronegativity"# tend to form negative ions......

Explanation:

#"Electronegativity"# is conceived to be the ability of an atom involved in a chemical bond to polarize electron density towards itself. There are various scales, of which the Pauling scale was the earliest, and still most widely used.......

Pauling initially used ionization energies and electron affinities, measurable atomic properties, to define his scale. It should follow that electronegative atoms TEND to form anions, and thus oxygen, and fluorine, the most electronegative atoms on the Periodic Table, habitually form #O^(2-)# and #F^-# ions..........

The other chalcogens and halogens, to the right of the Periodic Table and with high nuclear charge that is unshielded by the incomplete valence shell, tend to be oxidizing as well.

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