Concept explainers
Interpretation:
The shape of the xenon tetrafluoride molecule has to be predicted.
Concept Introduction:
Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion model predicts shape by inclusion of bond angles and most distant arrangement of atoms that leads to minimum repulsion. For the molecules that have no lone pairs around the central atom the bonded-atom unshared -pair arrangement is decided by the table as follows:
In order to determine the shape the steps to be followed are indicated as follows:
- 1. Lewis structure of the molecule should be written.
- 2. The type of electron arrangement around the central atom should be identified around the central atom. This essentially refers to the determination of bond pairs and unshared or lone pairs around central atoms.
- 3. Then bonded-atom unshared -pair arrangement that can maximize the distance of electron pairs about central atom determines the shape.
For molecules that have lone pairs around central atom, lone pairs influence shape, because there are no atoms at the positions occupied by these lone pairs. The key rule that governs the molecular shape, in this case, is the extent of lone –lone pair repulsions are far greater than lone bond pair or bond pair-bond pair repulsions. The table that summarized the molecular shapes possible for various combinations of bonded and lone pairs are given as follows:
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