THE ELECTRONEGATIVITY OF HYDROGEN

Following an earlier method given by Mande Et al. for evaluating the e lectronegativity values spectroscopically, we have in the present work determined the electronegativity of hydrogen by extrapolation of the electronegativity values of the group IA elements, which have the oute r electronic configuration ns', and their atomic numbers. Our value of the electronegativity for hydrogen, which is essentially the property of the donor hydrogen atom like that of all elements of the IA group, comes out to be 1.29. This value is considerably smaller than the val ues given hitherto by Pauling and other workers. The implications of t his smaller value are discussed in the light of some experimental resu lts.