Which of the following species has a trigonal bipyramidal geometry?
Practice Questions
Q1
Which of the following species has a trigonal bipyramidal geometry?
PCl5
BF3
H2O
NH4+
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
Which of the following species has a trigonal bipyramidal geometry?
Correct Answer: PCl5
Step 1: Understand what trigonal bipyramidal geometry means. It is a shape where there are five bonds around a central atom, with three bonds in a plane and two above and below this plane.
Step 2: Identify the species in the question. We are looking for a molecule that has five bonding pairs and no lone pairs of electrons.
Step 3: Analyze the given species, PCl5. It consists of one phosphorus (P) atom and five chlorine (Cl) atoms.
Step 4: Count the bonding pairs in PCl5. There are five P-Cl bonds, which means there are five bonding pairs.
Step 5: Check for lone pairs on the central atom (phosphorus). In PCl5, there are no lone pairs on the phosphorus atom.
Step 6: Conclude that since PCl5 has five bonding pairs and no lone pairs, it has a trigonal bipyramidal geometry.
