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The contrast between Pauling electronegativity and Mulliken electronegativity becomes clearer by following the measurements into the formulas. A Pauling bond-energy excess compares three compatible bond-dissociation energies; Mulliken electronegativity takes the arithmetic mean of an ionization energy and an electron affinity. The former asks how much stronger an unlike-atom chemical bond is than a stipulated baseline; the latter combines two different isolated-species energy gaps.

Actual readouts precede those model choices. In the nitrogen dissociation threshold from fragment images, fitted squared image radii versus assigned excitation energies reveal a threshold after accounting for the product quantum states. In the chlorine photodetachment threshold experiment, mass-selected anions overlap a tunable laser, and neutral-atom counts reveal the onset of Electron detachment. Opposite laser directions control the Doppler shift. That second threshold supplies an electron affinity, not an electronegativity; the Mulliken scale still needs an independent ionization energy.^[ref][ref]

For an original arithmetic comparison, stipulate isolated-species $I=(8,7,6)\mathrm{eV}$ and positive attachment-release $A_{\mathrm{ea}}=(0.5,3,3)\mathrm{eV}$ for fictitious species $A,B,C$. Their Mulliken electronegativities are $(4.25,5,4.5)\mathrm{eV}$. The largest ionization energy belongs to $A$, while the largest Mulliken electronegativity belongs to $B$: accepting an Electron matters as well as retaining one. Using signed attachment energies $(-0.5,-3,-3)\mathrm{eV}$ in $(I-\Delta E_{\mathrm{attach}})/2$ gives exactly the same results.

Independently stipulate $D_{RR}=300$ and $D_{XX}=(200,300,450)\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$ for $X=A,B,C$, with unlike-atom valuesThus $D_{RX}=(274.12125,396.485,592.09125)\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$, and the Pauling scale differences from $R$ are $(0.5,1,1.5)$. If all three fictitious species are placed above $R$ on that scale, their ordering is $A<B<C$, whereas the stipulated Mulliken scale gives $A<C<B$. The bond-dissociation energies and isolated-species energies were invented independently: this demonstrates what the formulas do, not a measured disagreement for actual chemical elements. A unit conversion cannot force these two input models to agree.

Pauling electronegativity is a relative, dimensionless scale motivated by bond-dissociation energies. The interesting observation is that a chemical bond between unlike chemical atoms can be stronger than a simple baseline inferred from the corresponding like-atom chemical bonds. An empirical excess energy can then be associated with an electronegativity difference. The 1932 paper The Nature of the Chemical Bond. IV. The Energy of Single Bonds and the Relative Electronegativity of Atoms built such a map; its original coordinates used hydrogen as zero, so those coordinates should not be mistaken for the modern tabulated Pauling electronegativities.^[ref]

One arithmetic-baseline version of the Pauling scale relation isHere $D_{AB}$, $D_{AA}$ and $D_{BB}$ are consistently defined bond-dissociation energies per molecule, and the arithmetic mean is the chosen baseline. With molar energies instead, write $\sqrt{{\Delta }_D/(96.485\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1})}$, approximately $0.102\sqrt{{\Delta }_D/(1\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1})}$. The denominator makes the result dimensionless; the factor $0.102$ is not a unit-independent magic constant. This is an empirical relation with a specified baseline, not a definition valid for every chemical bond.^[ref]

For an explicitly synthetic example, suppose $D_{AA}=D_{BB}=300\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$ and $D_{AB}=396.485\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$ with the same temperature and dissociation convention. Then ${\Delta }_D=96.485\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$ and the model gives an electronegativity difference of $1$. Replacing $D_{AB}$ by $300\mathrm{kJ}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$ gives zero; a negative excess would make this real square-root model inapplicable, not produce a negative electronegativity difference. These invented inputs illustrate the formula and are not measurements of named chemical substances.

Only differences appear, so adding the same constant to every Pauling electronegativity leaves this relation unchanged. A reference value must fix the origin. The bond-dissociation energies alone also do not tell which endpoint attracts electron density more strongly, because interchanging $A$ and $B$ leaves the formula unchanged. Chemical comparisons fix that direction. Thus Pauling electronegativity is useful as a compact ordering, while the underlying measured energies and approximations remain essential.