Question

write a chemical equation representing the first ionization energy for carbon

Answer 1

\[C\underset{\Delta}{\longrightarrow}C^++e^-\]

Answer 2

The ionization energy is the amount of energy required to \(remove\) one of the outermost electrons from an atom. So the above equation makes sense because the left-hand reactant is the original atom of carbon C, and the right-hand products are the positively charged carbon atom (because one negative electron is missing) and the one freed electron.