What is the bond order of the O2 molecule according to Molecular Orbital Theory?

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Q: What is the bond order of the O2 molecule according to Molecular Orbital Theory?

Solution: O2 has 12 total electrons, leading to a bond order of (10 bonding - 6 antibonding)/2 = 1.

Steps: 6

Step 1: Determine the total number of electrons in the O2 molecule. Each oxygen atom has 6 electrons, and since there are 2 oxygen atoms, the total is 6 + 6 = 12 electrons.
Step 2: Understand the arrangement of these electrons in molecular orbitals. The first 10 electrons fill the bonding orbitals, and the remaining 2 electrons fill the antibonding orbitals.
Step 3: Count the number of bonding and antibonding electrons. There are 10 bonding electrons and 2 antibonding electrons.
Step 4: Calculate the bond order using the formula: Bond Order = (Number of bonding electrons - Number of antibonding electrons) / 2.
Step 5: Plug in the numbers: Bond Order = (10 - 2) / 2 = 8 / 2 = 4.
Step 6: Correct the calculation: The correct number of antibonding electrons is actually 6, so Bond Order = (10 - 6) / 2 = 4 / 2 = 1.