Ionization Energy
Elements in the same group tend to show patterns in ionization energy. Elements in the same period also show trends in ionization energy. From the top to bottom, each element has lower ionization energy because it’s easier to remove an electron when the atoms are not as tightly bound. This decrease in atomic radius also causes the ionization energy to increase when moving from left to right across a period. The first ionization energy is the energy it takes to remove one electron from an atom; the second ionization energy is the energy it takes to remove a second electron from the atom, and so on. For an atom, ionization energies increase with the degree of ionization. Electrons in the closer orbitals experience greater forces of electrostatic attraction, so their removal requires increasingly more energy. Ionization energy becomes greater up and to the right of the periodic table.
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