Question

Atoms consist of negatively charged electrons bound to the positively charged nucleus by the Coulomb force. The electrons are rearranged when two different chemicals are brought together. Would you expect the electrons that are closer to the nucleus or the ones that are farther from the nucleus to be more involved in chemical reactions? (5%)

Answer 1

Energy in a level =

Where Rydberg energy ( =13.6eVRE=13.6eV).

thus if n is greater that means lower energy i.e., the electron is less bounded.

Hence, large amount of energy is needed to release an electron from an inner most shell than an electron from the outermost shell.

This is the reason the electron in the outermost shell has a higher (potential) energy than the inner most shells. So a less energy is required to liberate the electron from the outermost shell than inner most shell.