Trends down the group

Property Nitrogen Phosphorus Arsenic Antimony Bismuth
1st Ionization Energy / KJ mol-1 1402 1012 947 869 812
Electron Affinities / KJ mol-1 -7 -72 -77 -101 -110
Pauling Electronegativity 3.04 2.19 2.18 2.05 2.02

Ionization Energy

As you can see from the table the ionization energy decreases as you go down the group, this is because the outer electron shell is further away from the nucleus than the element above it in the periodic and therefore it is easier to remove an electron from the atom further down the group.

Electron Affinities

As you can see from the table the electron affinities increase as you go down the group this shows that more stable negative ions are formed the lower down the group you go, as a bigger electron affinity corresponds to a more stable negative ion.

Electronegativity

The table shows that as you descend the group the value of electronegativity decreases this follows the general trend that the further to the top right you get the higher the electronegativity will be.

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Author: Andrew Moore

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