- #1
mateomy
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The ionization of potassium is 4.34 eV; the electron affinity of iodine is 3.06 eV. At what separation distance will the KI molecule gain enough Coulomb energy to overcome the energy needed to form the [itex]K^+[/itex] and [itex]I^-[/itex] ions?
I'm looking at the solution to this problem and I'm not understanding how they get the Coulomb energy. Is it just the
[tex]
E_n=\frac{-Z^2 (13.6eV)}{n^2}
[/tex]
equation? I'm not getting the same numbers they're getting so I think I'm confused on the definition of Coulomb energy. Can someone clarify it for me. I understand the Coulomb repulsion/attraction is what I've seen over and over again from electrostatics...but I don't see how to tie that into this problem. Specifically because I don't know the radius of the particular ions.
They're getting values of 3.06 and 4.34 eV
Please and Thanks.
I'm looking at the solution to this problem and I'm not understanding how they get the Coulomb energy. Is it just the
[tex]
E_n=\frac{-Z^2 (13.6eV)}{n^2}
[/tex]
equation? I'm not getting the same numbers they're getting so I think I'm confused on the definition of Coulomb energy. Can someone clarify it for me. I understand the Coulomb repulsion/attraction is what I've seen over and over again from electrostatics...but I don't see how to tie that into this problem. Specifically because I don't know the radius of the particular ions.
They're getting values of 3.06 and 4.34 eV
Please and Thanks.