Answer to Question #153318 in Physical Chemistry for Giren

Question

sketch a graph to show the successive ionization energies of Fluorine

Give reasons for the shape of your graph.

Answer 1

At first, fluorine ionisation energies increase because once you have removed the first electron you are left with a positive ion. Trying to remove a negative electron from a positive ion is going to be more difficult than removing it from an atom. Removing an electron from a 2+, 3+, etc ion is going to be progressively more difficult. A big jump between two successive ionisation energies occurs due to breaking in to an inner (1s) level.