Question

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

a. Electrons placed in antibonding orbitals stabilize the ion/molecule.
b. The total number of molecular orbitals formed doesn't always equal the number of atomic orbitals in the set.
c. A bond order of 0 represents a stable chemical bond.
d. When two atomic orbitals come together to form two molecular orbitals, one molecular orbital will be lower in energy than the two separate atomic orbitals and one molecular orbital will be higher in energy than the separate atomic orbitals.
e. All of the above are true.

Answer 1

The correct statement is (d) When two atomic orbitals come together to form two molecular orbitals, one molecular orbital will be lower in energy than the two separate atomic orbitals and one molecular orbital will be higher in energy than the separate atomic orbitals.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct statement is (d) When two atomic orbitals come together to form two molecular orbitals, one molecular orbital will be lower in energy than the two separate atomic orbitals and one molecular orbital will be higher in energy than the separate atomic orbitals.

This statement is based on the concept of bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals. When atomic orbitals combine, they form molecular orbitals. A bonding molecular orbital is always lower in energy than the component atomic orbitals, while an antibonding molecular orbital is always higher in energy.