[miibay]

Hi, I can't understand why atoms of certain elements are more electronegative than others. I know that electronegativity is the ability to attract electrons in a bound and that it depends on the number of protons of the nucleus's atoms but in a neutral atom the number of protons is equal to the number of electrons. This makes me think that the atoms of all elements has the same capacity to attract electrons which is not true.. Can somebody help me?

[Mitch]

Fluorine in a neutral state does not have an octet. The tendency for atoms to want to form octets is a huge driving force and drives fluorine to have a higher electronegativity than an atom such as sodium, which would form a complete octet if it lost an electron.