Estimate the 4th ionization energy of beryllium (Be). Express your answer in Joules (J/atom).
3.49 × 10-17 J
How did you find this?
To estimate the 4th ionization energy of beryllium (Be), we need to understand what ionization energy is. Ionization energy is the amount of energy required to remove an electron from an atom or ion in its gaseous state.
Beryllium (Be) has four electrons in its outermost energy level, so we need to remove the 4th electron to find the 4th ionization energy.
Finding the exact value of the 4th ionization energy of beryllium requires complex quantum mechanical calculations, but we can estimate it using trends and patterns in the periodic table.
The general trend for ionization energy is that it increases across a period from left to right and decreases down a group. Beryllium is located in the second period of the periodic table, so its ionization energy generally increases as we remove electrons.
To estimate the 4th ionization energy of beryllium, we can look at the ionization energies of similar elements in the periodic table.
The 1st ionization energy of beryllium (Be) is 899.5 kJ/mol (kilojoules per mole) or 1.49982 x 10^-18 J/atom (joules per atom).
On average, ionization energies increase by about 1000 kJ/mol (1.6695 x 10^-18 J/atom) for each successive ionization. So, we can estimate the 4th ionization energy of beryllium by adding three times this average value to the 1st ionization energy:
1.49982 x 10^-18 J/atom + (3 * 1.6695 x 10^-18 J/atom) = 6.50832 x 10^-18 J/atom
Therefore, the estimated 4th ionization energy of beryllium (Be) is approximately 6.50832 x 10^-18 J/atom.