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General Chemistry Principles, Patterns, and Applications, 2011

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a. Adding an electron to an antibonding molecular orbital will decrease the bond order, thereby increasing the<br />

bond distance.<br />

b. Adding an electron to a bonding molecular orbital will increase the bond order, thereby decreasing the bond<br />

distance.<br />

11. Sodium contains only a single valence electron in its 3s atomic orbital. Combining two 3satomic orbitals gives<br />

two molecular orbitals; as shown in the diagram, these are a σ (bonding) orbital <strong>and</strong> a σ* (antibonding) orbital.<br />

1.<br />

Although each sodium atom contributes one valence electron, the +1 charge indicates that one electron has<br />

been removed. Placing the single electron in the lowest energy molecular orbital gives a s13s electronic<br />

configuration <strong>and</strong> a bond order of 0.5. Consequently, Na + 2 should be a stable species. Oxidizing Na + 2 by one<br />

electron to give Na 2+ 2 would remove the electron in the σ 3 s molecular orbital, giving a bond order of 0.<br />

Conversely, reducing Na + 2 by one electron to give Na 2 would put an additional electron into the σ 3 s molecular<br />

orbital, giving a bond order of 1. Thus, reduction to Na 2 would produce a more stable species than oxidation<br />

to Na 2+ 2 . The Na − 2 ion would have two electrons in the bonding σ 3 s molecular orbital <strong>and</strong> one electron in the<br />

antibonding s *3s molecular orbital, giving a bond order of 0.5. Thus, Na2 is the most stable of the three<br />

species.<br />

Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books<br />

Saylor.org<br />

856

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