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electron affinity

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electron affinity

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amount of energy released when an electron is attached to a neutral atom or molecule in the gaseous state to form a negative ion

~9 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The electron affinity (Eea) of an atom or molecule is defined as the amount of energy released when an electron attaches to a neutral atom or molecule in the gaseous state to form an anion.

X(g) + e → X(g) + energy This differs by sign from the energy change of electron capture ionization. The electron affinity is positive when energy is released on electron capture.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “electron affinity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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