Which of the following statements regarding sulphur is incorrect?
(a) S₂ molecule is paramagnetic.
(b) The vapours at 200°C consists mostly of S₈ rings.
(c) At 600°C the gas mainly consists of S₂ molecules.
(d) The oxidation state of sulphur is never less than +4 in its compounds.
Answers
Answer:
Option D
Explanation:
(a) S₂ molecule is paramagnetic. It is paramagnetic due to the unpaired electrons in MO and is a blue coloured compound, thus the statement is true,
(b) The vapours at 200°C consists mostly of S₈ rings. The vapour does consist of rings, hence the statement is true.
(c) At 600°C the gas mainly consists of S₂ molecules is also correct.
(d) The oxidation state of sulphur is never less than +4 in its compounds. The statement is incorrect as S2 is diamagnetic. According to the concept of Diamagnetism and Paramagnetism, Diamagnetism is the process in which substance is repelled to a magnetic field and those substance have paired electrons, whereas in paramagnetism process the substance is attracted to magnetic field and these atoms have unpaired electrons. The electron configurations of oxygen and sulfur are usually written as -
O = [He] 2s2 2p4S = [Ne] 3s2 3p4, hence sulphur contains unpaired electron where the valency can be less than four.