Question

Sodium is much more apt to exist as a cation than chlorine because:

Answer 1

Answer:

(D) chlorine has a greater ionization energy than sodium

Explanation:

Sodium is the element of the group 1 and period 3 which means that the valence electronic configuration is $[Ne]3s^1$.

Chlorine is the element of the group 17 and period 3 which means that the valence electronic configuration is $[Ne]3s^23p^5$.

Ionization energy is the minimum amount of energy which is required to knock out the loosely bound valence electron from the isolated gaseous atom.

Thus, removal of one electron in sodium is easy as it will gain noble gas configuration and become stable. But this case does not exist in chlorine and hence, chlorine has a greater ionization energy than sodium.

So,

Sodium is much more apt to exist as a cation than chlorine because chlorine has a greater ionization energy than sodium.