What is electronegativity?
Answer
Electronegativity is the tendency of an atom in a chemical bond to attract the shared pair of electrons towards itself.
The working
Definition
It measures how strongly an atom pulls the bonding electrons in a covalent bond towards itself. It is a relative property, not an absolute measurable quantity.
Scale
The most common measure is the Pauling scale, on which fluorine is the most electronegative element with a value of about 4.0.
Periodic trend
Electronegativity increases across a period (left to right) and decreases down a group, as atomic size decreases and nuclear pull increases.
Significance
The difference in electronegativity between two bonded atoms decides bond polarity; a large difference gives an ionic bond, a small one gives a polar covalent bond.
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