One scale for electronegativity is based on the concept that theelectronegativity of any atom is proportional to the ionizationenergy of the atom minus its electron affinity: electronegativity =k(IE - EA), where k is a proportionality constant.
a) How does this definition explain why the electronegativity ofF is greater than that of Cl even though Cl has the greaterelectron affinity?
b) Why are both ionization energy and electron affinity relevantto the notion of electronegativity?
c) Determine the value of k that would lead to anelectronegativity of 4.0 for F under this definition.
d) Use your result from part c to determine theelectronegativities of Cl and O using this scale. Do these valuesfollow the trend based on a figure of electronegativity valuesbased on Paulings thermochemical data.
