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4 votes
How many bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals are there in methane, CH4?

Bonding orbitals Antibonding orbitals
Zero Zero
One One
Two Two
Three Three
Four Four

1 Answer

6 votes

Answer:

Four Four

Step-by-step explanation:

A molecule is formed by the overlap of orbitals. The combination of atomic orbitals during bond formation leads to the formation of bonding and anti bonding molecular orbitals.

When a molecule is formed, the number of bonding molecular orbitals must be equal to the number of anti bonding molecular orbitals.

Hence, when methane is formed, four bonding and four anti bonding orbitals are formed because methane forms four bonds per molecule.

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