Chapter 2: Bonding |
Bonding in H2 (contd)
On the previous two pages we saw first how two waves and then how two 1s orbitals can interact in-phase and out-of phase. Now we will look at how this relates to what happens between the 1s orbitals of the two interacting hydrogen atoms and how this helps us create a view of the situation in a hydrogen molecule:
Now for the electrons.... the electrons are "placed" in the molecular orbitals following the same rules as for filling orbitals in atoms (i.e. lowest energy first). This means the two 1s electrons (one from each H atom) both go into the bonding molecular orbital, this results in stabilisation of the system (the combined two electrons in the H-H molecule are at lower energy than the two individual electrons of the separate H atoms. Hence, two H atoms combine to become more stable as a H2 molecule.
IMPORTANT: Only orbitals containing electrons contribute to the stability of the molecule, so the empty σ*-orbital has no impact on the stability of the molecule in this example.
© Dr. Ian Hunt, Department of Chemistry |