Answer to Question #65573 in Inorganic Chemistry for Irshad

Question

Give scientific reasons:(1)ionization potential of nitrogen is greater than that of oxygen.(2) sigma bond is stronger than pi bond.(3) unlike gases,liquids and solids can not be compressed easily.

Answer 1

1) Nitrogen has more first ionization energy than first ionization energy. The 2p orbital of nitrogen is half filled as it is considered as stable configuration because there is equal exchange of energies between the electrons of 2p orbital. Secondly the half filed orbital has a plane of symmetry thus it is considered as stable configuration. When electron is being removed form a stable configuration the energy requires would be higher because a stable configuration is shifted to an unstable configuration.
But in case of Oxygen the configuration is one more than half filled configuration. So oxygen would readily loose an electron to attain a stable configuration that is half filled configuration. So first Ionization energy of nitrogen is more than first ionization energy of Oxygen.
2) Pi bonds are weaker than sigma bonds because the side-on overlap of p orbitals is less effective than end-on overlap.
3) Gases can be compressed easily because there is a large amount of space between the individual molecules, which are very active and move around at high speed. When gas is compressed, the particles are forced much closer together, allowing a huge amount of particles to fit in a small space.