Electronegativity

[Kami]

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Which is more electronegative Chlorine or Oxygen and why?

 

[haavoc]

Chlorine is more electronegative. As you move left to right a period and up a group, you increase in electronegativity. This is due to an increase in effective nuclear charge, holding the electrons closer to the nucleus, thus making them harder remove.

 

[Kami]

As you move from left to right or bottom to top Oxygen is equally comparable to Flourine as chlorine which is what is I want to know and that maybe oxygen is equal to chlorine or is it because chlorine has one more electron than oxygen which is why chlorine is more electronegative.

 

[ou_jay]

Electronegativity is an intrinsic property of the elements. So the reason that fluorine is more electronegative than oxygen is just because it is.

The "rule" that electronegativity increases towards the right and towards the top is more of a guideline. It is a generality that lets you compare within a single column or single row, but it doesn't tell you absolute values of electronegativities and is not too helpful for comparing elements that are not either in the same row or in the same column.

Here are the most important electronegativities to know:
Hydrogen - 2.20
Carbon - 2.55
Nitrogen – 3.04
Chlorine – 3.16
Oxygen – 3.44
Fluorine – 3.98

Don't memorize the numbers; just know that N, Cl, O, and F are very electronegative and that their electronegativities increase in that order. Also you need to know that C and H are not very electronegative and that their electronegativities are similar enough that a C-H bond is non-polar.

 

[dds_sdc]

closer u are to F.. the more electronegative.

 

[Moni Ahmadian]

oxygen is more electronegative than chlorine. In the periodic table as we go to the right the size decreases so the electronegativity increases, but as we go down the size increases so the electronegativity decreases. oxygen is period 2 but Cl is period 3 so basically oxygen is more electronegative.

Which is more electronegative Chlorine or Oxygen and why?

 

[ananda]

oxygen is more electronegative than chlorine. In the periodic table as we go to the right the size decreases so the electronegativity increases, but as we go down the size increases so the electronegativity decreases. oxygen is period 2 but Cl is period 3 so basically oxygen is more electronegative.

However, Chlorine is farther to the right.... I don't know I guess your best bet is to sort of memorize that area in terms of their electronegativities. I also had trouble thinking about the logic on this one.

 

[joonkimdds]

However, Chlorine is farther to the right.... I don't know I guess your best bet is to sort of memorize that area in terms of their electronegativities. I also had trouble thinking about the logic on this one.

it doesn't matter.
here is my sarcastic example(after being on this website more than 1 year)
Chlorine is the #1 best student in an elementary school.
Oxygen is the #2 best student in a high school.
who's smarter?

 

[Moni Ahmadian]

no there is no need to memorize! the logic is through the size of the atom chlorine is larger than oxygen and so it has a lower electronegativity. Trust me only way you can sort the electronegativities is through the size of the atoms and you only need to memorize that from top periods to bottom ones the size increases😉

However, Chlorine is farther to the right.... I don't know I guess your best bet is to sort of memorize that area in terms of their electronegativities. I also had trouble thinking about the logic on this one.