2025 Chemical Bonding and Molecular StructureMolecular Orbital Theory - Bond Order Easy Question 1 of 5 in Molecular Orbital Theory - Bond Order

Given below are two statements:
Statement I: A hypothetical diatomic molecule with bond order zero is quite stable.
Statement II: As bond order increases, the bond length increases.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

A Both Statement I and Statement II are true
B Both Statement I and Statement II are false
C Statement I is true but Statement II is false
D Statement I is false but Statement II is true

The answer is B.

Solution

Both statements are false: bond order zero implies no chemical bond (molecule does not exist), and bond length is inversely proportional to bond order.

In Molecular Orbital Theory, a bond order of zero indicates that bonding electrons equal antibonding electrons, meaning no net attractive bonding exists and the molecule is completely unstable/does not exist (Statement I is false). As bond order increases, atoms are pulled closer by stronger shared electron density, so bond length decreases (Statement II is false). Hence, both statements are false.

Concept Bond Order and Bond Length

Molecular Orbital Theory - Bond Order in past papers

5 questions from this chapter have appeared across 5 exam years.