Nitrogen, N₂, has 10 bonding and 4 antibonding electrons.
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Nitrogen, , has bonding and antibonding electrons. The ion forms when it loses one electron from the bonding orbital, and when it gains one in a orbital. Find the three bond orders. Which species has the shortest bond?
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
Bond order , where and are the electrons in bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals. A higher bond order means a stronger, shorter bond; zero means no stable molecule. Unpaired electrons make a species paramagnetic; with all electrons paired it is diamagnetic.
The worked solution
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Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. . .
Step 2. . .
Step 3. . .
Step 4. Shortest bond. The highest bond order gives the shortest bond: .
Answer: bond orders , and ; has the shortest bond.
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