How come Silicon differs from the trend of increasing electron affinity as we move to the right in a period? Is it because more energy is released to fill in the last orbital? Or is it something else?
I'm not sure I agree that Si is out of place. As we move from left to right Al is -44 kJ/mol, Si is -119, P is -74, S is -200, and Cl is -345. P is the one out of place, I think, and not Si. And that is because the p orbital of P is half filled.
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