what is electronegativity?

Electronegativity is tendency of an atom to attract shared pair of electrons towards itself in a chemical bond. Since it is only relative electron tendency, it has no specific units.

Electronegativity is related to:

  • Size of an atom:
  • effective nuclear charge

Atom with small size and high nuclear charge has high electronegativity due to the strong pull exerted on shared electrons by the nucleus. For example, fluorine is highly electronegative element with electro negativity value 3.92 due to small size and high effective nuclear charge.

Atom with greater size and less nuclear charge has low electronegativity as its nucleus does not exert a strong attractive force on shared electrons . For example, Caesium is least electronegative element with electro negativity value 0.7 due to its big sizes and less effective nuclear charge.

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Electronegativity is a chemical property that describes the tendency of an atom or a functional group to attract electrons (or electron density) towards itself.An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the distance that its valence electron reside from the charged nucleus.The higher the associated electronegativity number,the more an element or compound attracts electrons towards it.

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Electronegativity is the property of an atom involved in a covalent bond to withdraw the shared pair of electrons towards itself.

For example, in a chemical bond C-F, Fluorine has a tendency to pull the electrons of the bonds towards itself more then carbon. Hence, we say that fluorine is more electronegative than carbon.

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Electronegativity is the property of an atom involved in a covalent bond to withdraw the shared pair of electrons towards itself.

For example, in a chemical bond C-F, Fluorine has a tendency to pull the electrons of the bonds towards itself more then carbon. Hence, we say that fluorine is more electronegative than carbon.

Due to electronegativity, the more electronegative atom gets a negative charge and other atom gets a positive charge. This results in the development of opposite charges on both ends known as dipole. The generation of opposite charge in a chemical bond is referred to as polarity. For example C-F bond has polarity as both atoms have opposite charges.

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Dear user,

Electronegativity is defined as the tendency of an atom in a molecule to attract the shared pair of electrons towards itself. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the distance that its valence electrons reside from the charged nucleus. The higher the associated electronegativity number, the more an element or compound attracts electrons towards it. It was first proposed by Linus Pauling.

Hope, this answers your question.

Cheers!!

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