Electronegativity and Chemical Bonding

This graph illustrates how Pauling electronegativity is related to element group and element period

Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels.

Updated on March 02, 2019

What Is Electronegativity?

Electronegativity is a measure of the attraction of an atom for the electrons in a chemical bond. The higher the electronegativity of an atom, the greater its attraction for bonding electrons.

Ionization Energy

Electronegativity is related to ionization energy. Electrons with low ionization energies have low electronegativities because their nuclei do not exert a strong attractive force on electrons. Elements with high ionization energies have high electronegativities due to the strong pull exerted on electrons by the nucleus.

Periodic Table Trends

In an element group, the electronegativity decreases as atomic number increases, as a result of increased distance between the valence electron and nucleus (greater atomic radius). An example of an electropositive (i.e., low electronegativity) element is cesium; an example of a highly electronegative element is fluorine.

Cite this Article Your Citation

Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Electronegativity and Chemical Bonding." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/electronegativity-and-periodic-table-trends-608796. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (2023, April 5). Electronegativity and Chemical Bonding. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/electronegativity-and-periodic-table-trends-608796 Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Electronegativity and Chemical Bonding." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/electronegativity-and-periodic-table-trends-608796 (accessed September 11, 2024).

copy citation What Is the Most Electronegative Element? Introduction to the Periodic Table Most Reactive Metal on the Periodic Table The Periodic Properties of the Elements Cool Chemical Element Facts Clickable Periodic Table of the Elements What Are the Parts of the Periodic Table? The Main Types of Chemical Bonds Learn Which Element Has the Lowest Electronegativity Value Chart of Periodic Table Trends Periodic Table of Element Groups Why Is the Periodic Table Important? Why Isn't Water on the Periodic Table? Printable Periodic Tables (PDF) What Is the Importance of Color on the Periodic Table? Printable Periodic Table of the Elements - Electronegativity ThoughtCo is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

We Care About Your Privacy

We and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

We and our partners process data to provide:

Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners (vendors)