Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
5416465 Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM 2009 6 Pages PDF
Abstract
Recently, we have critically analyzed the electronegativity scale of Gordy and found that the philosophical basis of designing the scale as the electrostatic energy of attraction between the screened nucleus and the valence electron is scientifically valid. We have calculated the electronegativity of the atoms of 103 elements of the periodic table using the ansatz suggested by Gordy by carefully allaying the dimensional mismatch seemingly prevalent in previous calculations. But the electronegativity is a conundrum and occurs in mind. It is neither a physical observable nor a quantum mechanically determinable quantity and for this reason there is no bench mark to perform any validity test of any scale of electronegativity. But the concept of electronegativity has extremely useful applications in the real world. The bond energies, bond polarities and the dipole moments, force constants and the internuclear distance between the atoms of a heteronuclear diatomic molecules can only be conceived in terms of the concept of electronegativity. In this report, we have calculated the dipole moments of as many as 31 molecules of widely diverse nature starting from strongly ionic to strongly covalent type of molecules using the electronegativity values computed by us. We have performed a comparative study of computed dipole moments vis-à-vis the available experimental dipole moments of the corresponding molecules. The results demonstrate that the scale of electronegativity of Gordy can be used realistically in representing the physical descriptors like dipole moments of heteronuclear molecules.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemistry Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
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