Which of the following elements exhibits the highest recorded electron affinity value in the periodic table?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Chlorine possesses the highest electron affinity in the periodic table because fluorine atoms are extremely small, causing high electron-electron repulsion when an incoming electron is added to its compact 2p orbital. Oxygen and nitrogen have significantly lower electron affinities due to their electronic configurations and smaller atomic radii. A related periodic trend is that electron affinity generally becomes more negative across a period from left to right.