Chapter 4, Problem 67E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation: The increase in bond strength by the removal of an electron in case of ${\text{O}}_{\text{2}}$ and the decrease in bond strength by the removal of an electron from ${\text{N}}_{\text{2}}$ is to be explained.

Concept introduction: The electronic configuration for multi-electron diatomic is written using the molecular orbitals, derived from the ${\text{H}}_{\text{2}}^{\text{+}}$ molecular ion.

The bond order is calculated by difference between the anti-bonding electrons and the bonding electrons by two. This can be stated as,

$\text{Bond}\text{order}=\frac{\left[\left(\begin{array}{l}\text{Electrons}\text{in}\\ \text{bonding}\text{orbitals}\end{array}\right)-\left(\begin{array}{l}\text{Electrons}\text{in}\\ \text{anti-bonding}\text{orbitals}\end{array}\right)\right]}{2}$

As the bond order increases, the stability also increases. The bond order is directly proportional to the bond energy and inversely proportional to the bond length.

To determine: The reason behind the increase in bond strength in case of ${\text{O}}_{\text{2}}$ and the decrease in the same in case of ${\text{N}}_{\text{2}}$ on the removal of an electron.