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4.35     Use molecular orbital theory to explain why the Be_{2} molecule does not exist.

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The electronic configuration of Be is  1s^22s^2.

From the molecular orbital electronic configuration, we have for Be_{2} molecule,

\sigma_{1s}^2\sigma_{1s}^{*2}\sigma_{2s}^2\sigma_{2s}^{*2}

We can calculate the bond order for Be_{2} is = \frac{1}{2}(N_{b}-N_{a}) where,

N_{b} is the number of electrons in bonding orbitals and N_{a} is the number of electrons in anti-bonding orbitals.

So, therefore we have,

Bond order of Be_{2} = \frac{1}{2}(4-4) = 0

that means that the molecule is unstable.

Hence, Be_{2} molecule does not exist.

Posted by

Divya Prakash Singh

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