In which of the following molecules does the molecular orbital theory predict a

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Question: In which of the following molecules does the molecular orbital theory predict a triple bond?

Options:

Correct Answer: N2

Solution:

N2 has a triple bond, with a bond order of 3 according to molecular orbital theory.

In which of the following molecules does the molecular orbital theory predict a triple bond?

In which of the following molecules does the molecular orbital theory predict a triple bond?

Step 1: Understand what a triple bond is. A triple bond means that three pairs of electrons are shared between two atoms.
Step 2: Know that molecular orbital theory helps us understand how electrons are arranged in molecules and how many bonds exist between atoms.
Step 3: Identify the molecule in question, which is N2 (nitrogen gas).
Step 4: Apply molecular orbital theory to N2. In N2, the electrons fill the molecular orbitals in a specific order.
Step 5: Count the number of bonding electrons in N2. There are 6 bonding electrons (3 pairs) in the molecular orbitals.
Step 6: Calculate the bond order using the formula: Bond Order = (Number of bonding electrons - Number of antibonding electrons) / 2. For N2, this is (6 - 0) / 2 = 3.
Step 7: Conclude that since the bond order is 3, N2 has a triple bond.

Molecular Orbital Theory – A theory that describes the electronic structure of molecules using quantum mechanics, focusing on the combination of atomic orbitals to form molecular orbitals.
Bond Order – A measure of the number of chemical bonds between a pair of atoms, calculated as the difference between the number of bonding and antibonding electrons divided by two.
Triple Bond – A type of covalent bond where three pairs of electrons are shared between two atoms, resulting in a bond order of 3.