Hannah M.

asked • 11/05/16

Chemistry Question

Using experimental values, place the first ionization energies in order from least amount of energy to greatest amount of energy input required: sodium, silicon, magnesium, aluminum

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Alejandro L. answered • 11/06/16

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Hannah M.

Thank you for your help. Unfortunately, I already tried that but my online homework website said it was wrong. Do you have any other ideas?
 
In case this helps, there is one question that starts with "without looking at the specific values, place the first..." for the same elements, and when I put them in order as you mentioned- Na, Mg, Al, Si, the answer is correct. But for the original question I asked, "Using experimental values, place....," this is not the correct answer. Can you determine what I am doing incorrectl? Thank you!
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11/06/16

Alejandro L.

The order you listed is neither based on the experimental values nor on my suggestion. If you would've looked up a periodic table showing the first ionization energy values you'd know that. It would literally take you less than a minute to find out the answer if you googled it.
 
If placing the correct (experimental) order into your online homework still doesn't work then your instructor messed up. However, you have to place the experimentally correct answer in your homework.
 
I'm sorry if I sound coy, but this is the type of question that you need to figure out on your own. If you don't understand the order then we can talk about that, but I cannot just give you the answer because you will not learn anything.
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11/06/16

Hannah M.

Thank you for your help. I have figured it out.
 
By the way, I never ask a question on Wyzant before googling, reading my notes and textbook, as well as using other resources. And I NEVER want anyone to simply give me an answer because I will have to know how to do this for my upcoming test. However, for this question, I was googling "Periodic Table withe experimental values," and I just kept getting web pages about the experimental procedure and web pages with periodic tables with element name, symbol, energy (kJ/mol), atomic #, and avg. mass. I could not find one with the experimental values because I did not know that experimental values are the first ionization energy values.  Maybe this seems simple to you, but for someone just learning Chemistry it is not. Especially since I had already put them in order by the way I was taught going across and down the Periodic Table, and it was wrong. I was confused. Chemistry may be easy and straightforward to you, but believe for someone who is doing all they can do to learn it, it is a hard subject. Also, since using Wyzant means I have to post something online for all to read, I am going to cover all of my bases first. But I am not perfect and may occasionally make mistakes. It would have given me more confidence and helped to teach me better if you had simply said "Experimental values = first ionization energy values" and perhaps add "Google periodic table with first ionization energy values." Now I am going to think twice about using Wyzant to help me learn. 
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11/06/16

Arturo O. answered • 11/05/16

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Experienced Physics Teacher for Physics Tutoring

Hannah M.

Thanks for helping me!
 
Unfortunately, the answer is not correct (at least according to my online homework website). 
 
I thought that that might be the answer so I had already tried it, but the website said it was wrong. Also, unfortunately, I do not have the energies tabulated anywhere. I used the Periodic Table and went from left to right to put them in order. This worked for my other question that asked "When looking at specific values, place the first ionization energies in order from least amount of energy to greatest amount of energy input required. Sodium, silicon, magnesium, aluminum" 
 
I can't find anywhere what the difference is between "Using experimental values" and "Without looking at specific values"?
 
Do you have any ideas?
 
Thank you again!
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11/06/16

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