{"id":25953,"date":"2025-06-19T08:29:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=25953"},"modified":"2025-06-19T08:29:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:29:40","slug":"bond-length-in-nitric-oxide-no-is-115-pm-molecular-nitrogen-n2-and-nitrosyl-ion-no-display-bonds-that-are-substantially-shorter-109-4-and-106-pm-respectively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/bond-length-in-nitric-oxide-no-is-115-pm-molecular-nitrogen-n2-and-nitrosyl-ion-no-display-bonds-that-are-substantially-shorter-109-4-and-106-pm-respectively\/","title":{"rendered":"Bond length in nitric oxide (NO) is 115 pm. Molecular nitrogen (N2) and nitrosyl ion (NO + ) display bonds that are substantially shorter (109.4 and 106 pm, respectively)."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bond length in nitric oxide (NO) is 115 pm. Molecular nitrogen (N2) and nitrosyl ion (NO + ) display bonds that are substantially shorter (109.4 and 106 pm, respectively). Use molecular orbital theory to explain these differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bond length differences between nitric oxide (NO), molecular nitrogen (N\u2082), and the nitrosyl ion (NO\u207a) can be explained using molecular orbital (MO) theory<\/strong>, which considers the behavior of electrons in molecular orbitals formed by the combination of atomic orbitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molecular Orbital Configuration and Bond Order:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. Molecular nitrogen (N\u2082):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

N\u2082 has 14 total electrons (7 from each nitrogen atom). Its molecular orbital configuration is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u03c3(1s)\u00b2, \u03c3*(1s)\u00b2, \u03c3(2s)\u00b2, \u03c3*(2s)\u00b2, \u03c0(2p)\u2074, \u03c3(2p_z)\u00b2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find the bond order, we use the formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Bond order = (Number of bonding electrons – Number of antibonding electrons) \/ 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For N\u2082:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

(10 bonding electrons – 4 antibonding electrons) \/ 2 = 3<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, N\u2082 has a bond order of 3<\/strong>, indicating a triple bond<\/strong>. This results in a short bond length of 109.4 pm<\/strong>, because stronger bonds are shorter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Nitric oxide (NO):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO has 15 electrons (7 from N and 8 from O). The MO configuration is similar to N\u2082, but with an extra electron placed in the \u03c0*(2p) antibonding orbital:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u03c3(1s)\u00b2, \u03c3*(1s)\u00b2, \u03c3(2s)\u00b2, \u03c3*(2s)\u00b2, \u03c0(2p)\u2074, \u03c3(2p_z)\u00b2, \u03c0*(2p)\u00b9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bond order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

(10 bonding – 5 antibonding) \/ 2 = 2.5<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This bond order of 2.5<\/strong> results in a bond that is weaker than a triple bond, making the bond length longer (115 pm)<\/strong> than in N\u2082.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Nitrosyl ion (NO\u207a):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO\u207a has 14 electrons (one less than NO). The electron removed is from the \u03c0*(2p) antibonding orbital:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u03c3(1s)\u00b2, \u03c3*(1s)\u00b2, \u03c3(2s)\u00b2, \u03c3*(2s)\u00b2, \u03c0(2p)\u2074, \u03c3(2p_z)\u00b2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bond order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

(10 bonding – 4 antibonding) \/ 2 = 3<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, NO\u207a also has a bond order of 3<\/strong>, like N\u2082, leading to a shorter bond length (106 pm)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The differences in bond length are due to the number of electrons in antibonding orbitals. More electrons in antibonding orbitals lower bond order and increase bond length. Thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • NO\u207a: bond order 3 \u2192 shortest bond (106 pm)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • N\u2082: bond order 3 \u2192 short bond (109.4 pm)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • NO: bond order 2.5 \u2192 longer bond (115 pm)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bond length in nitric oxide (NO) is 115 pm. Molecular nitrogen (N2) and nitrosyl ion (NO + ) display bonds that are substantially shorter (109.4 and 106 pm, respectively). Use molecular orbital theory to explain these differences. The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The bond length differences between nitric oxide (NO), molecular nitrogen (N\u2082), and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25955,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25953\/revisions\/25955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}