Comparison Of Nitrogen And Electron

Anomaly #1 By following the atomic radius trend on the periodic table, one would assume that hydrogen would have a greater atomic radius than helium. This notion would coincide with the ionization energy trend as well, since helium should have a higher attraction to its own electrons, according to ionization energy principles. Helium’s higher ionization energy would suggest a smaller size than hydrogen’s due to hydrogen having a lower ionization energy level. But, as shown on the “Atomic Radius and Ionization Energy vs. Atomic Number” graph, the atomic radius of helium is instead greater than the atomic radius of hydrogen. Although not conclusive, this anomaly may be explained through valence shell electron pair repulsion otherwise known as, “VSEPR”. After

Instead, the ionization energy level of nitrogen is actually greater than oxygen. The anomaly can be examined more thoroughly through orbital diagrams of both nitrogen and oxygen. Since oxygen is the eighth element, it has 8 electrons, which would make its electron configuration 1s22s22p4 (University of Maryland, 2016), As for nitrogen, it is the seventh element with 7 electrons. Nitrogen’s electron configuration is 1s22s22p3(University of Maryland, 2016). The orbital diagrams for both of these elements are very similar with the difference of 1 electron. In nitrogen’s case, the 2p orbitals are all half-filled, whereas oxygen carries one extra electron in one of its 2p orbitals. Due to the extra electron in oxygen’s 2p orbital, oxygen may want to dispose of the extra electron in order to fulfill a more stable configuration- one that resembles nitrogen’s. Thus, nitrogen may possess a higher ionization energy level due to its more stable form- where it would rather keep all of its half-filled