ChemistryCode 9701
Electronegativity and bonding
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- define electronegativity as an atom's ability to pull electrons towards itself
- account for the causes behind differences in electronegativity between elements, linking them to nuclear charge, atomic radius, and shielding from inner shells and sub-shells
- give and account for how electronegativity varies from left to right across a period and from top to bottom within one group of the Periodic Table
- use the difference between Pauling electronegativity values to predict whether ionic or covalent bonds will form (whether some ionic compounds show covalent character is not assessed) (Pauling electronegativity values are supplied where needed)