Which element has the highest electronegativity on the periodic table?

Which element has the highest electronegativity on the periodic table?

• A. Oxygen
• B. Fluorine
• C. Nitrogen
• D. Hydrogen

Answer: (B)

Electronegativity is how strongly an atom attracts electrons in a chemical bond. Across a period, this tendency increases as atoms gain more protons with only moderate increases in shielding, which pulls bonding electrons closer to the nucleus. Fluorine sits at the far right of the second period and is the smallest among these elements with a very high effective nuclear charge and relatively little shielding. That combination makes its nucleus pull bonding electrons extremely strongly, more than oxygen, nitrogen, or hydrogen. So in bonds with other elements, fluorine draws electron density toward itself more effectively, making it the most electronegative element overall. Oxygen is also highly electronegative, but fluorine’s greater pull due to its size and charge is even stronger; nitrogen is a bit less electronegative than oxygen and hydrogen is much less electronegative than the nonmetals on the right side.

Electronegativity is how strongly an atom attracts electrons in a chemical bond. Across a period, this tendency increases as atoms gain more protons with only moderate increases in shielding, which pulls bonding electrons closer to the nucleus. Fluorine sits at the far right of the second period and is the smallest among these elements with a very high effective nuclear charge and relatively little shielding. That combination makes its nucleus pull bonding electrons extremely strongly, more than oxygen, nitrogen, or hydrogen. So in bonds with other elements, fluorine draws electron density toward itself more effectively, making it the most electronegative element overall. Oxygen is also highly electronegative, but fluorine’s greater pull due to its size and charge is even stronger; nitrogen is a bit less electronegative than oxygen and hydrogen is much less electronegative than the nonmetals on the right side.