Question 14

What is the significance of the terms - ‘isolated gaseous atom’ and ‘ground state’ while defining the ionization enthalpy and electron gain enthalpy? Hint: Requirements for comparison purposes.

Answer

 

Ionization enthalpy is the minimum amount of energy which is needed to remove the most loosly bound electron from a neutral isolated gaseous atom to form a cation.The cations are formed when the neutral atoms loses electrons. But for losing electrons they, should be in isolated gaseous form. Although the atoms are widely separated in the gaseous state, there are some amounts of attractive forces among the atoms. To determine the ionization enthalpy, it is impossible to isolate a single atom. But, the force of attraction can be further reduced by lowering the pressure. For this reason, the term ‘isolated gaseous atom’ is used in the definition of ionization enthalpy.

Ground state of an atom refers to the most stable state of an atom. If an isolated gaseous atom is in its ground state, then less amount energy would be required to remove an electron from it. Therefore, for comparison purposes, ionization enthalpy and electron gain enthalpy must be determined for an ‘isolated gaseous atom’ and its ‘ground state'.

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