Contrary to its periodic trend, why does sulfur have a lower ionization energy than phosphorus?

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Contrary to its periodic trend, why does sulfur have a lower ionization energy than phosphorus?

In: Chemistry

Anonymous 0 Comments

A half full sub shell is slightly more stable than usual. When Sulfur loses an electron, its 3p suborbital becomes half full, so it doesn’t take as much energy to bring it to that state.