Electronegativity Chart

Electronegativity is defined as the measure of the tendency of an atom to attract electrons towards itself. It describes how well an atom attracts an electron.

Electronegativity is determined mainly by considering two important factors. The first is the nuclear charge where higher the number of protons in an atom stronger will be the force of attraction on electrons. The second is the location or the number of electrons in the atomic shells.

Measurement of Electronegativity

Even though the concept of electronegativity was studied long back in history, an American chemist named Linus Pauling in the year 1932 developed the most accurate scale of electronegativity. His scale popularly referred to as Pauling scale was mainly based on the development of Valence Bond Theory which seemingly helped him understand the relationship between one chemical property with another property. The scale was further based on bond-energy calculations of different elements having covalent bonds. However, electronegativity of an element cannot be measured directly as it depends solely on the different properties of each element.

The Importance Of Electronegativity Values

Electronegativity is mainly used for two purposes;

  • To predict if an atom will form an ionic or a covalent bond.
  • To predict if the resulting molecule will be polar or nonpolar.

Electronegativity Chart and The Periodic Table

Most of the time, the electronegativity values of elements are given in the periodic table. One can easily find the values and refer to them. Notably, in the periodic table the element fluorine has the highest electronegativity value. Keeping this fact can be really helpful as most of the time electronegativity value tends to increase or move towards fluorine in the periodic table.

There are also some electronegativity trends that can be observed in the Periodic table. On moving from left to right in the Periodic table, electronegativity increases whereas on moving from top to bottom, the electronegativity decreases.

Apart from this, the electronegativity chart can also be created in accordance with the periodic table. The chart is given below and it is much easier to find the electronegativity values of the elements. The values are arranged as per the number of the element in the periodic table.

No.

Element

Symbol

Electronegativity

1

Hydrogen

H

2.2

2

Helium

He

no data

3

Lithium

Li

0.98

4

Beryllium

Be

1.57

5

Boron

B

2.04

6

Carbon

C

2.55

7

Nitrogen

N

3.04

8

Oxygen

O

3.44

9

Fluorine

F

3.98

10

Neon

Ne

no data

11

Sodium

Na

0.93

12

Magnesium

Mg

1.31

13

Aluminum

Al

1.61

14

Silicon

Si

1.9

15

Phosphorus

P

2.19

16

Sulfur

S

2.58

17

Chlorine

Cl

3.16

18

Argon

Ar

no data

19

Potassium

K

0.82

20

Calcium

Ca

1

21

Scandium

Sc

1.36

22

Titanium

Ti

1.54

23

Vanadium

V

1.63

24

Chromium

Cr

1.66

25

Manganese

Mn

1.55

26

Iron

Fe

1.83

27

Cobalt

Co

1.88

28

Nickel

Ni

1.91

29

Copper

Cu

1.9

30

Zinc

Zn

1.65

31

Gallium

Ga

1.81

32

Germanium

Ge

2.01

33

Arsenic

As

2.18

34

Selenium

Se

2.55

35

Bromine

Br

2.96

36

Krypton

Kr

3

37

Rubidium

Rb

0.82

38

Strontium

Sr

0.95

39

Yttrium

Y

1.22

40

Zirconium

Zr

1.33

41

Niobium

Nb

1.6

42

Molybdenum

Mo

2.16

43

Technetium

Tc

1.9

44

Ruthenium

Ru

2.2

45

Rhodium

Rh

2.28

46

Palladium

Pd

2.2

47

Silver

Ag

1.93

48

Cadmium

Cd

1.69

49

Indium

In

1.78

50

Tin

Sn

1.96

51

Antimony

Sb

2.05

52

Tellurium

Te

2.1

53

Iodine

I

2.66

54

Xenon

Xe

2.6

55

Cesium

Cs

0.79

56

Barium

Ba

0.89

57

Lanthanum

La

1.1

58

Cerium

Ce

1.12

59

Praseodymium

Pr

1.13

60

Neodymium

Nd

1.14

61

Promethium

Pm

1.13

62

Samarium

Sm

1.17

63

Europium

Eu

1.2

64

Gadolinium

Gd

1.2

65

Terbium

Tb

1.22

66

Dysprosium

Dy

1.23

67

Holmium

Ho

1.24

68

Erbium

Er

1.24

69

Thulium

Tm

1.25

70

Ytterbium

Yb

1.1

71

Lutetium

Lu

1.27

72

Hafnium

Hf

1.3

73

Tantalum

Ta

1.5

74

Tungsten

W

2.36

75

Rhenium

Re

1.9

76

Osmium

Os

2.2

77

Iridium

Ir

2.2

78

Platinum

Pt

2.28

79

Gold

Au

2.54

80

Mercury

Hg

2

81

Thallium

Tl

1.62

82

Lead

Pb

2.33

83

Bismuth

Bi

2.02

84

Polonium

Po

2

85

Astatine

At

2.2

86

Radon

Rn

no data

87

Francium

Fr

0.7

88

Radium

Ra

0.89

89

Actinium

Ac

1.1

90

Thorium

Th

1.3

91

Protactinium

Pa

1.5

92

Uranium

U

1.38

93

Neptunium

Np

1.36

94

Plutonium

Pu

1.28

95

Americium

Am

1.3

96

Curium

Cm

1.3

97

Berkelium

Bk

1.3

98

Californium

Cf

1.3

99

Einsteinium

Es

1.3

100

Fermium

Fm

1.3

101

Mendelevium

Md

1.3

102

Nobelium

No

1.3

103

Lawrencium

Lr

no data

104

Rutherfordium

Rf

no data

105

Dubnium

Db

no data

106

Seaborgium

Sg

no data

107

Bohrium

Bh

no data

108

Hassium

Hs

no data

109

Meitnerium

Mt

no data

110

Darmstadtium

Ds

no data

111

Roentgenium

Rg

no data

112

Copernicium

Cn

no data

113

Nihonium

Nh

no data

114

Flerovium

Fl

no data

115

Moscovium

Mc

no data

116

Livermorium

Lv

no data

117

Tennessine

Ts

no data

118

Oganesson

Og

no data