A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.

Montaigne Ionization Energies A peek inside the atom (a lab exercise) You will be graded on the IB Criteria for: Data Collection and Processing. There will be a drop box on Moodle to turn in this assignment. Please submit your responses as soon as possiblebut be sure to do it before we have our first class after Winter break. Line emission spectra strongly support the idea that electrons exist in discrete energy levels but they arent the only forms of evidence. Other support comes from examining the amount of energy to completely remove an electron from an atom. This energy is referred to as the ionization energy, since when one or more electrons are completely removed from an atom, the atom becomes a positively charged substance known as an ion. By definition,

The first ionization energy of an element is the energy required to remove one mole of electrons from one mole of atoms of the element in the gaseous state to form gaseous ions.
Examples are shown in the following equations: Na(g) Na+(g) + eMg(g) Mg+(g) + eFirst ionization energy = 496 kJ mol-1 First ionization energy = 738 kJ mol-1

A knowledge of ionization energies provides valuable information about the arrangement of electrons within atoms. The discussion of the ionization of an atom has so far considered the removal of one electron only; but if an atom containing several electrons is treated with sufficient vigor (i.e. more energy), then more than one electron may be removed from it. A succession of ionization energies is therefore possible. These may be determined, principally from spectroscopic measurements and emission spectra; a table of successive ionization energies for a number of elements is given in Table 1. just below. The energies given are those needed to completely remove each successive electron from the element listed. For example, Lithium has three electrons and 520 kJ/mol are required to remove the first electron; 7299 kJ/mol to remove the second electron; and 11816 to remove the third so that no electrons will be left. The total energy required to remove all three electrons would then be 520 + 7299 + 11816 = 19635 kJ/mol. Table 1. Successive ionization energy (IE) values for various elements in kJ/mol Number of electrons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Li 520 7299 11816 Be 900 1757 14851 21009 Na 496 4563 6913 9545 13354 16612 20117 25493 28937 141381 159096 Mg 738 1451 7734 10541 13632 17997 21708 25659 31647 35467 170014 189392 K 419 3052 4412 5878 7977 9650 11344 14944 16966 48582 54439 60707 68902 75958 83160 93412 99781 444957 476124 Ca 590 1145 4912 6475 8146 10497 12323 14208 18194 20387 57055 63341 70062 78803 86379 93991 104896 111651 494953 527830

Data Analysis Use Table 1 to answer the following questions. In all questions use a set of data that includes 3 elements: either the three alkali metals (Li, Na, and K) or the three alkaline earth metals (Be, Mg, Ca). 1. Examine the first ionization energies for the set of elements you are investigating. Do you notice any trend? Explain why this trend exists. I analyze the three alkali metals. The trend for the first ionization energies of these elements is K<Na<Li. The reason why this trend exists is because of their energy levels and valance electrons. For K, Na and Li, each of them is the first element of each energy level. The order of energy levels of them are K>Na>Li, so the first IE gets lower as the energy level increases. 2. Using Excel make a plot of ionization energy, on the vertical axis, against the number of electrons removed, on the horizontal axis for your set of three elements. Overlay all three of you elements (Li, Na, K or Be,Mg, Ca) on the same plot. 3. What do you notice about the general trend in values? Why do you think this trend in values occurs?

Now plot a graph of the logarithm (to base 10) of the ionization energy against the number of electrons removed. Use Excel to calculate the logarithm of your values, the Excel function is =LOG(cell #). Organize your data in excel in a similar way to the table given below. Does this type of plot give any information about groups of electrons that can be removed more readily than others? How many electrons are there in each group?

Write the simple electron configuration for your three elements based on the information in your plot of Log I.E.vs electron number. Table 1. Successive ionization energy (IE) values in kJ/mol for the elements: Element ________________ Number of electrons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 IE _________________ Log (IE) IE _________________ Log (IE) IE Log (IE)

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