periodicity: electronegativity

Question 1

what is electronegativity?

Answer 1

the measure of the relative tendency of an element’s atom to attract the shared electron pair in a covalent bond.

Question 2

trend of electronegativity across a period?

Answer 2

nuclear charge increases, relatively constant shielding effect > smaller atomic size > greater attraction of electrons

Question 3

trend of electronegativity down a group?

Answer 3

nuclear charge increases, increase in shielding effect outweighs the effective increase in nuclear charge > bigger atomic size > weaker attraction of electrons