The amount of energy that must be added to remove an electron from a neutral atom to give a cation (a positively charged ion) is called the atom’s ionization energy. Which would you expect to have the larger ionization energy: Na, or Mg? Provide the rationale for your response.
Mg would be expected to have the larger ionization energy compared to Na. This is because Mg is one period higher and one group farther to the right on the periodic table than Na. As you move across a period from left to right, the ionization energy generally increases due to the increasing effective nuclear charge and decreasing atomic size. Therefore, Mg, being further to the right on the periodic table, would have a higher ionization energy than Na.
