JEE Advanced · 2022 · 28 Aug 2022 · Paper 2 · Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure

Thermal decomposition of

AgNO_{3}

produces two paramagnetic gases. The total number of electrons present in the antibonding molecular orbitals of the gas that has the higher number of unpaired electrons is ____.

Answer: 6

Solution

Thermal decomposition of

AgNO_{3}

2 AgNO_{3} \to 2 Ag + 2 NO_{2} + \frac{1}{2} O_{2}

Both

NO_{2}

and

O_{2}

are paramagnetic.

NO_{2}

has 1 unpaired electron (odd electron molecule), while

O_{2}

has 2 unpaired electrons. Therefore,

O_{2}

has the higher number of unpaired electrons.

Molecular orbital configuration of

O_{2}

σ_{1 s}^{2} σ_{1 s}^{* 2} σ_{2 s}^{2} σ_{2 s}^{* 2} σ_{2 p_{z}}^{2} π_{2 p_{x}}^{2} π_{2 p_{y}}^{2} π_{2 p_{x}}^{* 1} π_{2 p_{y}}^{* 1}

Antibonding orbitals:

σ_{1 s}^{*}

(2e⁻),

σ_{2 s}^{*}

(2e⁻),

π_{2 p}^{*}

(2e⁻). Total = 6 electrons.

JEE Advanced · 2022 · 28 Aug 2022 · Paper 2 · Integer answer

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JEE Advanced · 2022 · 28 Aug 2022 · Paper 2 · Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure

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