Practice question · True or false
The helium molecule is unstable because its bond order is zero.
Hints
- Fill the MO diagram for four electrons and count.
- Two bonding and two antibonding electrons cancel exactly.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, four electrons fill both the bonding and the antibonding orbital, giving . With no net bonding there is nothing to hold the atoms together, which is why helium is monatomic.
Practise Hybridisation and Molecular Orbitals
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