For which of the following molecules is the bond order equal to 0?
Practice Questions
Q1
For which of the following molecules is the bond order equal to 0?
He2
H2
Li2
Be2
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
For which of the following molecules is the bond order equal to 0?
Step 1: Understand what bond order means. Bond order is a measure of the number of chemical bonds between a pair of atoms.
Step 2: Recall the formula for bond order: Bond Order = (Number of bonding electrons - Number of antibonding electrons) / 2.
Step 3: Identify the molecule in question, which is He2 (helium dimer).
Step 4: Determine the number of electrons in He2. Each helium atom has 2 electrons, so He2 has a total of 4 electrons.
Step 5: In He2, the 2 electrons will fill the bonding molecular orbital, and the other 2 electrons will fill the antibonding molecular orbital.
Step 6: Count the bonding and antibonding electrons: 2 bonding electrons and 2 antibonding electrons.
Step 7: Apply the bond order formula: Bond Order = (2 bonding - 2 antibonding) / 2 = (2 - 2) / 2 = 0.
Step 8: Conclude that the bond order for He2 is 0, meaning there is no bond between the two helium atoms.
Bond Order – Bond order is 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.
Molecular Orbital Theory – Molecular orbital theory explains the behavior of electrons in molecules, including the formation of bonding and antibonding orbitals.