Background: The general trend in electronegativity is that the value increases from left to right across a row in the periodic table and decreases down a column. The most electronegative element is fluorine, which has a value of 4.0. As discussed in the lesson "Trends in the Periodic Table," electronegativity increases across a row as the number of protons in the nucleus increases and therefore has a stronger pull. Electronegativity decreases down a column due to an increased effect of electron shielding in larger atoms.

Situation: A high school student, Timmy, is reading about elements of a periodic table. He is studying the periodic table when he decides to compare two random elements within the same column. He chooses Mardine and Sampline to compare and contrast and gets to work. The first thing he notices is that Sampline is further down the periodic table than Mardine. It's not much information to go on, but it's a good starting point for Timmy.

Question: Which element has more electronegativity?
Answer: Mardine

Situation: A high school student, Timmy, is reading about elements of a periodic table. He is studying the periodic table when he decides to compare two random elements within the same column. He chooses Mardine and Sampline to compare and contrast and gets to work. The first thing he notices is that Sampline is further down the periodic table than Mardine. It's not much information to go on, but it's a good starting point for Timmy.

Question: Which element has less electronegativity?
Answer: Sampline

Situation: A high school student, Timmy, is reading about elements of a periodic table. He is studying the periodic table when he decides to compare two random elements within the same column. He chooses Mardine and Sampline to compare and contrast and gets to work. The first thing he notices is that Sampline is further down the periodic table than Mardine. It's not much information to go on, but it's a good starting point for Timmy.

Question: Is electron shielding higher or lower in Mardine?
Answer: lower

Situation: A high school student, Timmy, is reading about elements of a periodic table. He is studying the periodic table when he decides to compare two random elements within the same column. He chooses Mardine and Sampline to compare and contrast and gets to work. The first thing he notices is that Sampline is further down the periodic table than Mardine. It's not much information to go on, but it's a good starting point for Timmy.

Question: Is electron shielding higher or lower in Sampline?
Answer: higher

Situation: Two new elements have been discovered by scientists and added to the periodic table. After discussion among their peers, scientists finally decided where to add these new elements. Although both elements are in the same row, Lozopine is on the far right side of the row, and Tralokine is in the middle.

Question: Which element is more electronegative?
Answer: Lozopine

Situation: Two new elements have been discovered by scientists and added to the periodic table. After discussion among their peers, scientists finally decided where to add these new elements. Although both elements are in the same row, Lozopine is on the far right side of the row, and Tralokine is in the middle.

Question: Which element is less electronegative?
Answer: Tralokine

Situation: Two new elements have been discovered by scientists and added to the periodic table. After discussion among their peers, scientists finally decided where to add these new elements. Although both elements are in the same row, Lozopine is on the far right side of the row, and Tralokine is in the middle.

Question: Which element's nucleus has more protons?
Answer: Lozopine

Situation: Two new elements have been discovered by scientists and added to the periodic table. After discussion among their peers, scientists finally decided where to add these new elements. Although both elements are in the same row, Lozopine is on the far right side of the row, and Tralokine is in the middle.

Question: Which element's nucleus has fewer protons?
Answer: Tralokine

Situation: Two new elements have been discovered by scientists and added to the periodic table. After discussion among their peers, scientists finally decided where to add these new elements. Although both elements are in the same row, Lozopine is on the far right side of the row, and Tralokine is in the middle.

Question: Does Lozopine have a stronger or weaker pull than Tralokine?
Answer: stronger

Situation: Two new elements have been discovered by scientists and added to the periodic table. After discussion among their peers, scientists finally decided where to add these new elements. Although both elements are in the same row, Lozopine is on the far right side of the row, and Tralokine is in the middle.

Question: Does Tralokine have a stronger or weaker pull than Lozopine?
Answer: weaker

Situation: Lena is a grade school student studying the periodic table for homework. She has to choose two elements from the table and write a couple paragraphs about them and their characteristics. She takes two darts and throws them at the periodic table to decide which ones to use. The darts land on Zerpine and Dradane. Zerpine may be further down the table than Dradane, but they are both in the same column.

Question: Is Zerpine's electronegativity higher or lower than Dradane's?
Answer: lower

Situation: Lena is a grade school student studying the periodic table for homework. She has to choose two elements from the table and write a couple paragraphs about them and their characteristics. She takes two darts and throws them at the periodic table to decide which ones to use. The darts land on Zerpine and Dradane. Zerpine may be further down the table than Dradane, but they are both in the same column.

Question: Is Dradane's electronegativity higher or lower than Zerpine's?
Answer: higher

Situation: Lena is a grade school student studying the periodic table for homework. She has to choose two elements from the table and write a couple paragraphs about them and their characteristics. She takes two darts and throws them at the periodic table to decide which ones to use. The darts land on Zerpine and Dradane. Zerpine may be further down the table than Dradane, but they are both in the same column.

Question: Which element has more electron shielding?
Answer: Zerpine

Situation: Lena is a grade school student studying the periodic table for homework. She has to choose two elements from the table and write a couple paragraphs about them and their characteristics. She takes two darts and throws them at the periodic table to decide which ones to use. The darts land on Zerpine and Dradane. Zerpine may be further down the table than Dradane, but they are both in the same column.

Question: Which element has less electron shielding?
Answer: Dradane