Successive Ionisation Energies

Question 1

Successful ionisation energies

Answer 1

• Each time you remove an electron, there’s successful ionisation energy.
• Second ionisation energy is the energy required to remove 1 electron from each ion in 1 mole of gaseous 1+ ion to form 1 mole f gaseous 2+ ions.
• O(+) -> O(2+) + e-

Question 2

Ionisation energies and shell structure

Answer 2

• Graph of successful ionisation energies provide evidence for the shell structure of atoms.
• Within each shell, successive ionisation energy increases because electrons are being removed from an increasingly positive ion so there is less repulsion amongst remaining electrons.
• Big jump in ionisation energy when new shell is broken into, new shell is closer to nucleus.