Scientific Tutor

What is electronegativity?

For this section, open up your electronegativity periodic table with this link. Electronegativity is one of what they call the periodic trends. Electronegativity is the ability of an atom of an element to pull electrons to it. The higher the electronegativity of the element, the more likely it is to pull an electron to it. Although most people will not describe electronegativity like I do, the definition I give is extremely simple, powerful, and useful compared to most definitions of electronegativity. The numbers on your electronegativity table run from 0 to 4. 0 is the lowest electronegativity and 4 is the highest electronegativity. An easy way to think about electronegativity is; if you have two atoms of different elements, like carbon and fluorine, and you put an electron exactly between them. Which element does it get pulled to? It gets pulled to fluorine because flourine has a higher electronegativity. One way questions about electronegativity can be asked is very direct like the questions below.

Examples: While looking at your electronegativity table, give the electronegativity of each element.

PRACTICE PROBLEMS: While looking at your electronegativity table, give the electronegativity of each element.