Question

Arrange the following elements from greatest to least tendency to accept an electron.? Rank from greatest to least tendency to accept an electron. Or if they are equivalent overlap them. Be, C, Li, O, F *My answer was F, O, C, Be, Li and I got it wrong... Help, Thank you =)

Answer 1

The order of the given elements from greatest to least tendency to accept an electron is $\boxed{{\text{F}}>{\text{O}}>{\text{C}}>{\text{Be}}>{\text{Li}}}$  

Further explanation:

Electronegativity:

The tendency that an atom has to attract the shared electrons in the bond towards itself is known as electronegativity. The more electronegative atom will more attract the bonding electrons towards itself than the less electronegative one. Therefore the electrons will spend more time with the more electronegative atom than an electropositive atom. The electronegative atom will acquire the partial negative charge and the electropositive atom will acquire a partial positive charge.

Higher the electronegativity value of the element more will be its tendency to accept an electron towards itself.

Electronegativity trends in the periodic table:

Along the period,  electronegativity increases due to the increase in the nuclear charge. This results in the strong attraction of electrons.

Down the group, electronegativity decreases due to an increase in the size of elements. This results in lesser attraction between the nucleus and the electron.

Fluorine lies to the rightmost region of the period as compared to other elements. Its atomic number is 9 and its electronic configuration is $1{s^2}2{s^2}2{p^5}$ . It is just one electron short of the stable noble gas configuration of neon. So it has the greatest tendency to accept an electron so as to achieve stability.

Oxygen lies to the left of fluorine but to the right of the remaining given elements. So it is less electronegative than fluorine but more than the rest of the elements. So its tendency to accept an electron is lesser than that of fluorine but more than the rest of the given elements.

Carbon lies to the left of oxygen but to the right of the remaining given elements. So it is less electronegative than oxygen but more than the rest of the elements. So its tendency to accept an electron is lesser than that of oxygen but more than the rest of the given elements.

Beryllium lies to the left of carbon but to the right of lithium. So it is less electronegative than oxygen but more than the rest of the elements. So its tendency to accept an electron is lesser than that of oxygen but more than the rest of the given elements.

Lithium lies in the leftmost region of the period as compared to other elements. Its atomic number is 3 and its electronic configuration is $1{s^2}2{s^1}$ . It has one electron extra of the noble gas configuration of helium. So it has high tendency to remove an electron so as to achieve stability and therefore has the least tendency to accept an electron.  

All the given elements (F, O, C, Be, Li) are present in the same period of the periodic table. (For electronegativity values, refer to the table in the attached image)

The decreasing order of elements according to their tendency to accept an electron is as follows:

${\text{F}}>{\text{O}}>{\text{C}}>{\text{Be}}>{\text{Li}}$

Learn more:

1. Which ion was formed by providing the second ionization energy? brainly.com/question/1398705

2. Write a chemical equation representing the first ionization energy for lithium: brainly.com/question/5880605

Answer details:

Grade: High School

Subject: Chemistry

Chapter: Periodic classification of elements

Keywords: electronegativity, electron, F, O, C, Be, Li, carbon, oxygen, fluorine, lithium, beryllium, decreasing order, greatest to least, arrange, 1s22s22p5, 1s22s1, leftmost region, rightmost region.

Answer 2

Your answer is correct, I do not understand why it would be wrong.
The electron accepting tendency of an atom is known as the tendency of an atom to accept an electron. This is ranked on a scale of 0.7 to 3.98 and these species have the following values:
F: 3.98
O: 3.44
C: 2.55
Be: 1.57
Li: 0.98