GCHEM Destroyer #169

[flycd05]

---

Members do not see this ad.

The question is: Consider NO2. Estimate the ONO bond angle.

a - 120
b - over 120
c - under 120
d - 180
e - 109.5

The correct answer is B. I get why the answer is B b/c the lewis structure is O-N=O with 1 lone e- on the N so the lone e- doesn't have as much of a force to push down the 2 O's as a whole e- pair would causing the angle to be more than 120 degrees. HOWEVER, isn't the lewis structure WRONG? b/c according to what's in destroyer, the one of the O's should have a -1 formal charge on it right? which would cause it to be NO2-1. thus the valence e- number to go from 17 to 18?

can someone explain this pleaseee thanks 🙂

 

[klutzy1987]

The question is: Consider NO2. Estimate the ONO bond angle.

a - 120
b - over 120
c - under 120
d - 180
e - 109.5

The correct answer is B. I get why the answer is B b/c the lewis structure is O-N=O with 1 lone e- on the N so the lone e- doesn't have as much of a force to push down the 2 O's as a whole e- pair would causing the angle to be more than 120 degrees. HOWEVER, isn't the lewis structure WRONG? b/c according to what's in destroyer, the one of the O's should have a -1 formal charge on it right? which would cause it to be NO2-1. thus the valence e- number to go from 17 to 18?

can someone explain this pleaseee thanks 🙂

It is because the NO2m in this question is a radical and therefore has no negative charge. Therefore a radical isnt full like a lone pair that it should make bonding 120 but its not like its not there and it would be linear. Therefore it is between linear and 120 and the answer is correct at greater than 120.