| | Fluorine, Iodine, and Bond Energy (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19) |
 | | The bond dissociation energies you cite are the energies required, in kilojoules/mole (do not forget the units - "158" and "151" are meaningless by themselves) for the diatomic molecules to split into two atoms: F-F --> F + F I-I --> I + I Reactivity does not end there, though. |
 | | This pattern is more obvious when we look at the differences between F-R and I-R bond dissociation energies (BDE): R F-R BDE minus I-R BDE (kJ/mol) CH3 216 H 271.5 Cl 45 I 119.1 All of these differences are greater than the difference between the F-F and I-I dissociation energies, which is about 7 kJ/mol. |
 | | So although it takes a little more energy to make F atoms from F2 than to make I atoms from I2, the energy you get back when F combines with something else is much greater than the energy gained when I combines with the same thing. |
| www.newton.dep.anl.gov /askasci/chem00/chem00945.htm (330 words) |