[proskater_6666]

I just came back to school after an extended vacation and am doing fine in school. I stumbeled on this one question about ionization energy. I know what it is and stuff I just do not know how to calculate it because i missed so much time. I cant find it anywhere in my notes so here i am!

The question is:

Energy State   Energy (eV)
1                   -30.0
2                   -16.0
3                   -10.0
4                   -8.0
5                   -2.0
6                      0

What is the ionization energy of the atom?

is it just 30eV? I'm kinda confused and i know its a stupid question lol

[DevaDevil]

the question is not so much what is the ionization energy here; it's more like: How do I read the energy diagram?

If you know that; you know the ionization energy.

Some hints here:
what does the ground state (0 eV) in your diagram represent? Core, or Vacuum?

[IITian]

The ionization energy or ionization potential is the energy necessary to remove an electron from the neutral atom.

Generally, the nth ionization energy is the energy required to strip it of an nth mole of electrons after the first n − 1 mole of electrons have already been removed