[tennis freak]

I was taught that the ionization energy is the minimum energy required to remove one electron from each atom in one mole of gaseous atoms of that element at 298K and 1 atm.

what i have been taught is exactly what mrdeadman said, that the ionization energy was the energy required to remove an electron/steal an electron thus making it an ion which is that same as the wikipedia definition

here's the address if you want to read it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization_energy

[Will]

what i have been taught is exactly what mrdeadman said, that the ionization energy was the energy required to remove an electron/steal an electron thus making it an ion which is that same as the wikipedia definition

here's the address if you want to read it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization_energy

That is a perfectly acceptable general idea of what the ionization energy means, but as a definition it is a precise measurement that has to have a standard, and the one used is normally the one I mentioned. Otherwise, the ionization energy would be impractically low to work with! For example, the first ionization energy of an atom of Barium would be 0.00000000000000000083508 Joules!
Thats why they use moles.

[tennis freak]

hey guys i finally hit the three star status, yay now i finally join the ranks

[mrdeadman]

That is a perfectly acceptable general idea of what the ionization energy means, but as a definition it is a precise measurement that has to have a standard, and the one used is normally the one I mentioned. Otherwise, the ionization energy would be impractically low to work with! For example, the first ionization energy of an atom of Barium would be 0.00000000000000000083508 Joules!
Thats why they use moles.

the guy we are helping out is in general chem and you don't need to really work with what you're saying until college. so in order for him to understand it to general chem standards, the definition he should use is the one we gave him.