- #1
Aezi
- 10
- 0
Hi! It's been awhile since I've taken chemistry, and I forgot why some elements preferentially lose or gain electrons. It's not like they grow a brain and think, "hey, I'd rather lose 3 electrons than gain 5 to fulfill my octet!" What's the explanation for this phenomena? Some people would just say that certain elements have higher or lower electron affinity than the element it bonds with and such and such, but that doesn't tell me much (or maybe I'm missing something). Thank you! I hope I made my question as clear as possible. I'll copy what I read that sparked this question as well below:
"What makes carbon so special? Why are there so many carbon-containing compounds? The answer lies in carbon's position in the periodic table. Carbon is in the center of the second row of elements. Atoms to the left of carbon have a tendency to give up electrons, whereas the atoms to the right have a tendency to accept electrons."
"What makes carbon so special? Why are there so many carbon-containing compounds? The answer lies in carbon's position in the periodic table. Carbon is in the center of the second row of elements. Atoms to the left of carbon have a tendency to give up electrons, whereas the atoms to the right have a tendency to accept electrons."