Question

Lone pairs and bond pairs possess electrons. However, the repulsion experienced by lone pairs is much greater than that experienced by bond pairs. What reason can be attributed to this?

Answer 1

The lone pairs are localized on the central atom while the bond pairs electrons are shared between two atoms. The lone pairs of electrons in a molecule occupy more space as compared to the bonding pairs of electrons. This results in greater repulsion between lone pairs of electrons as compared to lone pair-bond pair and bond pair-bond pair repulsion.