Post by 1dave on Mar 21, 2020 17:29:19 GMT -5
Elemental Bonding:
Bonding orbitals are discussed in Molecular Orbital (MO) theory to explain the attractive interactions between the atomic orbitals of two or more atoms in a molecule.
The Pauli exclusion principle prohibits any two electrons in a molecule from having the same set of quantum numbers. Each atomic electron orbital pair in the molecule splits into two molecular orbitals belonging to the pair, one lower in energy than the original atomic level and one higher.
How Molecules are made:
Protons make the elements, electrons make the molecules.
Bonding and antibonding orbitals form when atoms combine into molecules.
Electrons that spend most of their time between the nuclei of two atoms are placed into the bonding orbitals, and electrons that spend most of their time outside the nuclei of two atoms are placed into antibonding orbitals.
This is because there is an increase in electron wave density between the nuclei in bonding orbitals, and a decrease in electron wave density in antibonding orbitals.
Placing an electron in a bonding orbital stabilizes the molecule because it is mostly in between the two nuclei, blocking the proton repulsion.
Conversely, placing electrons into the antibonding orbitals will decrease the stability of the molecule.
Electrons will fill according to the energy levels of the orbitals. They will first fill the lower energy orbitals, and then they will fill the higher energy orbitals. If a bond order of zero is obtained, that means that the molecule is too unstable and so it will not exist.
