Why are atoms electrically neutral but electronegative?
Electronegativity is a term that was first utilized by Pauli to describe the tendency of an atom to attract electrons based on the observed polarity of molecules; however, it isn’t an actual value that one can measure in the laboratory. As a result, all the electronegativity values given in tables are calculated from other parameters which may or may not be correct to take or ignore in the calculations. A better measure of acceptance of electrons by a neutral atom would be the electron-affinity (an experimentally measured value). Basically, all matter reacts as to decrease the amount of potential energy as much as possible. In the case of metals this means to get rid of electrons because the shielding from core electrons is too high, whereas nonmetals gain electrons because the shielding is not as effective at canceling out the charge of the nucleus. Since the decrease in potential energy will be given by Coulomb’s law: V = q1q2/kr, the poorer the shielding of valence electrons, the hi
