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Molecular geometry is the three-dimensional arrangement of the atoms that constitute a molecule. It includes the general shape of the molecule as well as bond lengths , bond angles , torsional angles and any other geometrical parameters that determine the position of each atom.
The lone pairs on transition metal atoms are usually stereochemically inactive, meaning that their presence does not change the molecular geometry. For example, the hexaaquo complexes M(H 2 O) 6 are all octahedral for M = V 3+ , Mn 3+ , Co 3+ , Ni 2+ and Zn 2+ , despite the fact that the electronic configurations of the central metal ion are d ...
The linear molecular geometry describes the geometry around a central atom bonded to two other atoms (or ligands) placed at a bond angle of 180°. Linear organic molecules , such as acetylene ( HC≡CH ), are often described by invoking sp orbital hybridization for their carbon centers.
For example, in carbon dioxide (CO 2), which does not have a lone pair, the oxygen atoms are on opposite sides of the carbon atom (linear molecular geometry), whereas in water (H 2 O) which has two lone pairs, the angle between the hydrogen atoms is 104.5° (bent molecular geometry).
This would result in the geometry of a regular tetrahedron with each bond angle equal to arccos(− 1 / 3 ) ≈ 109.5°. However, the three hydrogen atoms are repelled by the electron lone pair in a way that the geometry is distorted to a trigonal pyramid (regular 3-sided pyramid) with bond angles of 107°.
This geometry is almost always consistent with VSEPR theory, which usually explains non-collinearity of atoms with a presence of lone pairs. There are several variants of bending, where the most common is AX 2 E 2 where two covalent bonds and two lone pairs of the central atom (A) form a complete 8-electron shell.
In a tetrahedral molecular geometry, a central atom is located at the center with four substituents that are located at the corners of a tetrahedron. The bond angles are arccos (− 1 / 3 ) = 109.4712206...° ≈ 109.5° when all four substituents are the same, as in methane ( CH 4 ) [ 1 ] [ 2 ] as well as its heavier analogues .
The seesaw geometry occurs when a molecule has a steric number of 5, with the central atom being bonded to 4 other atoms and 1 lone pair (AX 4 E 1 in AXE notation). An atom bonded to 5 other atoms (and no lone pairs) forms a trigonal bipyramid with two axial and three equatorial positions, but in the seesaw geometry one of the atoms is replaced ...