Question

differentiate between atomic orbital and molecular orbital​

Answer 1

Answer:

Orbitals can hold a maximum of two electrons. The main difference between atomic and molecular orbital is that the electrons in an atomic orbital are influenced by one positive nucleus, while the electrons of a molecular orbital are influenced by the two or more nuclei depending upon the number of atoms in a molecule.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Atomic orbitals are regions around the nucleus where electrons have a high probability of being found. Orbitals allow the atom to be bound to other atoms to form molecules through the sharing or exchanging of electrons in higher orbitals. They consist of various energy levels and the orbitals containing the most electrons will depend on the amount of energy absorbed by the atom.

In addition to orbitals of different shapes, molecular orbitals also consist of orbitals that either make an atom more stable or less stable. Bonding molecular orbitals are orbitals where electrons spend most of their time between the nuclei of the individual atoms. The bonding molecular orbitals encourage bonding and create stable molecules. Anti-bonding molecular orbitals are orbitals where electrons spend most of their time away from the space between the bonded nuclei. These create unstable molecules.

In a diatomic molecule, bonding molecular orbitals have lower energy than the 1s orbitals of the bonded atoms whereas anti-bonding molecular orbitals will have more energy than the 1s orbitals. If there are more electrons within the bonding orbitals than the anti-bonding orbitals, the molecule will be stable. If there are more electrons within the anti-bonding orbitals or if the number of electrons in the bonding and anti-bonding orbitals is the same, they will be unstable.

If there are more electrons in the bonding orbital than in the 1s orbitals of the combined atoms in a diatomic molecule, it essentially means that it takes less energy for the atoms to exist as a molecule then as separate atoms and matter always tends towards the lower energy option. More electrons in the anti-bonding orbital would imply that it takes less energy for the atoms to exist separately