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3.10: Key Terms

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    456044
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    antibonding orbital
    molecular orbital located outside of the region between two nuclei; electrons in an antibonding orbital destabilize the molecule
    bond order
    number of pairs of electrons between two atoms; it can be found by the number of bonds in a Lewis structure or by the difference between the number of bonding and antibonding electrons divided by two
    bonding orbital
    molecular orbital located between two nuclei; electrons in a bonding orbital stabilize a molecule
    degenerate orbitals
    orbitals that have the same energy
    diamagnetism
    phenomenon in which a material is not magnetic itself but is repelled by a magnetic field; it occurs when there are only paired electrons present
    homonuclear diatomic molecule
    molecule consisting of two identical atoms
    hybrid orbital
    orbital created by combining atomic orbitals on a central atom
    hybridization
    model that describes the changes in the atomic orbitals of an atom when it forms a covalent compound
    linear combination of atomic orbitals
    technique for combining atomic orbitals to create molecular orbitals
    molecular orbital
    region of space in which an electron has a high probability of being found in a molecule
    molecular orbital diagram
    visual representation of the relative energy levels of molecular orbitals
    molecular orbital theory
    model that describes the behavior of electrons delocalized throughout a molecule in terms of the combination of atomic wave functions
    node
    plane separating different lobes of orbitals, where the probability of finding an electron is zero
    overlap
    coexistence of orbitals from two different atoms sharing the same region of space, leading to the formation of a covalent bond
    paramagnetism
    phenomenon in which a material is not magnetic itself but is attracted to a magnetic field; it occurs when there are unpaired electrons present
    pi bond (π bond)
    covalent bond formed by side-by-side overlap of atomic orbitals; the electron density is found on opposite sides of the internuclear axis
    s-p mixing
    change that causes σp orbitals to be less stable than πp orbitals due to the mixing of s and p-based molecular orbitals of similar energies.
    sigma bond (σ bond)
    covalent bond formed by overlap of atomic orbitals along the internuclear axis
    sp hybrid orbital
    one of a set of two orbitals with a linear arrangement that results from combining one s and one p orbital
    sp2 hybrid orbital
    one of a set of three orbitals with a trigonal planar arrangement that results from combining one s and two p orbitals
    sp3 hybrid orbital
    one of a set of four orbitals with a tetrahedral arrangement that results from combining one s and three p orbitals
    sp3d hybrid orbital
    one of a set of five orbitals with a trigonal bipyramidal arrangement that results from combining one s, three p, and one d orbital
    sp3d2 hybrid orbital
    one of a set of six orbitals with an octahedral arrangement that results from combining one s, three p, and two d orbitals
    valence bond theory
    description of bonding that involves atomic orbitals overlapping to form σ or π bonds, within which pairs of electrons are shared
    π bonding orbital
    molecular orbital formed by side-by-side overlap of atomic orbitals, in which the electron density is found on opposite sides of the internuclear axis
    π* bonding orbital
    antibonding molecular orbital formed by out of phase side-by-side overlap of atomic orbitals, in which the electron density is found on both sides of the internuclear axis, and there is a node between the nuclei
    σ bonding orbital
    molecular orbital in which the electron density is found along the axis of the bond
    σ* bonding orbital
    antibonding molecular orbital formed by out-of-phase overlap of atomic orbital along the axis of the bond, generating a node between the nuclei

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