A mercury atom in the ground state absorbs 20.00 electronvolts energy and is ionized by losing an electron. How much energy does this electron have after the ionization?

1 Answer
Meave60
Jul 16, 2018

After the ionization, the electron has #"9.563 eV"# of energy.

Explanation:

The kinetic energy #("KE")# of a particle is equal to the difference between its absorbed energy #("AE")# and its ionization energy #("IE")#.

The first ionization energy of #"Hg"# is #"10.4375 eV"#. The absorbed energy is #"20.00 eV"#.

#"KE"="AE"-"IE"#

#"KE"="20.00 eV"-"10.4375 eV"="9.56 eV"# rounded to two decimal places

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization_energies_of_the_elements_(data_page)

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