Practice question · Numerical answer
A diatomic molecule has 8 electrons in bonding molecular orbitals and 4 in antibonding orbitals. Compute its bond order.
Hints
- Bond order is half the excess of bonding over antibonding electrons.
- Compute (8 - 4)/2.
Show the answer
2
Why
Bond order , a double bond. Each pair of antibonding electrons cancels the effect of one bonding pair.
Practise Hybridisation and Molecular Orbitals
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