Question

How does fluorine's electronegativity compare to the electronegativity of oxygen and chlorine?

Answer 1

Fluorine is a smaller atom so when it forms a covalent bond, the shared electrons are closer to the nucleus and there is less shielding, electronegativity of oxygen is greater.

Answer 2

The electronegativity of fluorine compare to the electronegativity of oxygen and chlorine as below

Fluorine has the highest electronegativity than oxygen and chlorine.

Step-by-step explanation

Generally the electronegativity increase across the period ( from the left to the right) and decreases down the group.

• Both oxygen and fluorine are in period 2 in periodic table. since fluorine is on fur right side as compared to oxygen , fluorine has higher electronegativity than oxygen.

• On the other side Fluorine and chlorine are in the same group in periodic table. fluorine is at the top of the group while chlorine is at the bottom therefore fluorine has higher electronegativity than chlorine.