Use a periodic table to rank the following elements from Greatest Electronegativity to Least Electronegativity. (Highest to lowest!)

barium
chlorine
sleenium\
francium

1 answer

To rank the elements barium, chlorine, selenium, and francium by electronegativity from greatest to least, we can refer to the general trends in the periodic table:

  1. Electronegativity increases across a period (left to right).
  2. Electronegativity decreases down a group (top to bottom).

Based on these trends, here are the electronegativity values (on the Pauling scale) for the given elements:

  • Chlorine (Cl): 3.16
  • Selenium (Se): 2.55
  • Barium (Ba): 0.89
  • Francium (Fr): 0.7 (noted as very low, as it's the least electronegative alkali metal)

Now, we can rank them accordingly from greatest to least electronegativity:

  1. Chlorine (Cl)
  2. Selenium (Se)
  3. Barium (Ba)
  4. Francium (Fr)

So the final ranking is:

Cl > Se > Ba > Fr