Q.Draw a molecular orbit (MO) diagram of N2 molecule and calculate its bond order.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →N2 has 14 electrons total; filling the MO diagram (with pi2p below sigma2p, as applies for B2/C2/N2) gives 10 bonding and 4 antibonding electrons, so bond order = (10-4)/2 = 3.
Total electrons in N2: Each N atom has atomic number 7 (7 electrons), so N2 has 14 electrons total.
MO energy order for N2 (since N2 is one of the lighter diatomics where 2s-2p mixing occurs, the pi2p orbitals lie BELOW sigma2pz in energy):
sigma1s < sigma1s < sigma2s < sigma2s < (pi2px = pi2py) < sigma2pz < (pi2px = pi2py) < sigma*2pz
Filling 14 electrons into this order:
sigma1s2 sigma1s2 sigma2s2 sigma2s2 (pi2px2 pi2py2) sigma2pz2
(2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 14 electrons used, all orbitals up to sigma2pz filled)
Molecular orbital diagram (energy levels, low to high):
sigma2pz* (empty)
pi2px*, pi2py* (empty, degenerate pair)
sigma2pz -- 2 electrons (filled)
pi2px, pi2py -- 2 electrons each = 4 electrons (filled, degenerate pair, this is the HOMO along with sigma2pz)
sigma2s -- 2 electrons (filled) sigma2s -- 2 electrons (filled) sigma1s -- 2 electrons (filled, core, not usually drawn)
sigma1s -- 2 electrons (filled, core, not usually drawn)
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