62.5k views
0 votes
Write a chemical equation representing the second ionization energy for lithium.

User Iod
by
8.3k points

1 Answer

5 votes
Ionization means pulling off an electron. So the first IE means removing 1 electron from lithium:
Li --> Li+ + 1 e-

The product is a + ion because it now has one more proton than electron.

The 2nd ionization energy is removing a 2nd electron from that resulting cation:
Li+ --> Li2+ + 1e-
User James Scott
by
8.5k points