Explain why the electron affinity of carbon is greater than that of nitrogen?

Question

Based on the actual electron configurations of the elements, explain why the electron affinity of carbon is greater than that of nitrogen.

Answer 1

C - 1s2 2s2 2p2
N - 1s2 2s2 2p3

Based on the Aufbau principle, the electrons in the 2p orbitals are placed in separate orbitals and are not paired up until necessary. In the case of nitrogen, this means that all of the p orbitals have one electron in them, and to add another electron to the system, it must either be paired up with another electron in one of the 2p orbitals, or go into a higher energy orbital. Either of these costs more energy that would be the case for carbon, which has an empty p orbital, and electron affinity is the measure of how much energy is gained by adding an extra electron.

Answer 2

Because carbon is a solid and nitrogen is a gas.

Answer 3

because elements want to have a half-filled shell; if Carbon gains one electron, it will be half-filled, but if N gains one electron, it will no longer be half filled so it doesn't want that