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When the central atom in a molecule is covalently bonded to five other atoms and has no valence shell nonbonding electrons, then the arrangement of atoms around the central atom is

A) Tetrahedral
B) Trigonal Bipyramidal
C) Octahedral
D) Linear

1 Answer

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Final answer:

When a central atom is bonded to five other atoms with no valence shell nonbonding electrons, it forms a Trigonal Bipyramidal arrangement.

Step-by-step explanation:

When the central atom in a molecule is covalently bonded to five other atoms and has no valence shell nonbonding electrons, the arrangement of atoms around the central atom is Trigonal Bipyramidal. This geometric configuration is determined by VSEPR (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion) theory, which predicts the shape of the molecule based on minimizing the repulsion between electron pairs around the central atom. Given that there are five bonding pairs and no lone pairs, the atoms will spread out to the corners of a trigonal bipyramid to minimize repulsions, thus adopting a trigonal bipyramidal molecular geometry.

User Bob Black
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