Question

What type of bonding is in the `sf(N_2)` molecule ?

Answer 1

In the nitrogen molecule the atoms are held together by triple covalent bonds.

The electron structure of nitrogen is `1s^(2)2s^(2)2p^(3)`'

There are therefore 5 valence electrons. These are able to form a triple bond with one non - bonding pair on each atom:

The molecular orbital diagram is:

The `2p_z` overlap "head on" to give a `sigma` bonding and a `sigma**` antibonding orbital.

The `2p_x` and `2p_y` are orthogonal (at right angles) and overlap to give two `pi` bonding orbitals and two `pi**` antibonding orbitals. Each pair (`2p_x` and `2p_y`) overlaps like this:

Here we can see that the number of bonding electrons ( `N_b`) is 8 and the number of antibonding electrons (`N_a`) is 2.

The bond order `=((N_b-N_a))/(2)=((8-2))/(2)=3`