A molecular orbital diagram for beryllium (Be) is shown. Will beryllium exist as a molecule according to molecular orbital theory?
Yes
No
Because:
a. Electrons in bonding orbitals make the species more stable and electrons in antibonding orbitals make the species less stable.
b. Electrons in bonding orbitals make the species less stable and electrons in antibonding orbitals make the species more stable.
c. There is a net stabilization and the system is lower in energy when electrons are in the molecular orbitals than when they are in their individual atomic orbitals.
d. The stabilization from the electrons in bonding molecular orbitals is cancelled out by the destabilization caused by the electrons filling the antibonding molecular orbitals.
A. Electrons placed in antibonding orbitals stabilize the ion/molecule.
B. When two atomic orbitals come together to form two molecular orbitals, one molecular orbital will be lower in energy than the two separate atomic orbitals and one molecular orbital will be higher in energy than the separate atomic orbitals.
C. If bond order = 0, then bond is unstable compared to individual atoms and no bond will form.
D. The total number of molecular orbitals formed always equal the number of atomic orbitals in the set.
E. The maximum number of electrons in each molecular orbital is two.
