Which of the following is a false statement

Options

A. Fluorine is more electronegative than chlorine
B. nitrogen has greater `IE_(1)` than oxygen
C. Lithium is amphoteric
D. Chlorine is an oxidizing agent

Explanation

To determine which statement is false among the given options, we will analyze each statement one by one.

### Step 1: Analyze the first statement
**Statement:** Fluorine is more electronegative than chlorine.

- **Analysis:** Fluorine (F) has an electronegativity value of 4.0 on the Pauling scale, while chlorine (Cl) has a value of 3.0. Therefore, this statement is true.

### Step 2: Analyze the second statement
**Statement:** Nitrogen has greater ionization energy (IE1) than oxygen.

- **Analysis:**
- The electronic configuration of nitrogen (N) is 1s² 2s² 2p³, and that of oxygen (O) is 1s² 2s² 2p⁴.
- Nitrogen has a half-filled p subshell, which is more stable than the partially filled p subshell of oxygen.
- Due to this stability, it requires less energy to remove an electron from nitrogen than from oxygen. Thus, nitrogen has a lower ionization energy than oxygen. Therefore, this statement is false.

### Step 3: Analyze the third statement
**Statement:** Lithium is amphoteric.

- **Analysis:** Lithium (Li) typically exhibits basic behavior rather than amphoteric behavior. Amphoteric substances can act as both acids and bases, but lithium primarily acts as a base. Therefore, this statement is false.

### Step 4: Analyze the fourth statement
**Statement:** Chlorine is an oxidizing agent.

- **Analysis:** Chlorine (Cl) can indeed act as an oxidizing agent because it can gain electrons and be reduced from an oxidation state of 0 to -1. Therefore, this statement is true.

### Conclusion
After analyzing all the statements, we find that the false statements are:
1. Nitrogen has greater ionization energy than oxygen (this is false).
2. Lithium is amphoteric (this is also false).

However, since the question asks for one false statement, we can conclude that the most straightforward false statement is that **Lithium is amphoteric**.

### Final Answer
**The false statement is:** Lithium is amphoteric.

---