Saturday, June 29, 2019

physical chemistry - Why does oxygen not like to be a double anion?


The electron affinity of a neutral oxygen atom is −142 kJ (it releases this energy). The electron affinity for the now double anion $\ce{O^2-}$ is 710 kJ (work must be done on the atom).


My question is, why the large jump in electron affinity? We are taught that the electrons do not interact much with each other in the way of shielding. I think this to be incorrect, because otherwise, the effective nuclear charge on all of the valence electrons should be about the same, including the new ones added to ionize the atom. This would make the electron affinity about the same for each electron. Plus, doesn’t the oxygen atom want to complete its shell? So why is it putting up a fight?




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