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Q.Oxygen forms only OF2_2 with fluorine while sulfur forms SF6_6. Explain. Why ?

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✓ Free question

Step 1. Oxygen is a second-period element, so its valence shell (n=2) has only s and p subshells available -- no d-orbitals at all.

Step 2. This restricts oxygen's maximum covalency to about 2 (rarely 4), since it has no extra orbitals to promote electrons into for additional bonds; with fluorine, the most electronegative element, oxygen can therefore only form OF2 (oxygen bonded to two fluorine atoms).

Step 3. Sulfur, a third-period element, does have accessible 3d orbitals in its valence shell. This lets it promote and unpair all six of its valence electrons (2 in 3s, 4 in 3p) into an expanded sp3d2 hybrid set, forming six S-F bonds -- giving the stable, symmetric SF6.

✓Final answer

Oxygen's covalency is capped at about 2 by the complete absence of valence d-orbitals (a second-period limitation), so it forms only OF2; sulfur's accessible 3d orbitals let it expand its covalency to 6, forming SF6.

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