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Question
why is oxygen diatomic not triatomic ?
why is oxygen diatomic not triatomic ?
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Solution
Oxygen exists as two allotropes, diatomic oxygen O2 or triatomic ozone, O3.
The atomic number of oxygen is 8 and its electronic configuration is 2,6. As there are six electrons present in the outermost shell of oxygen, it is two electrons short of achieving noble gas configuration.
It does so by sharing two electrons with another oxygen and forms double bond (O = O) .
Whereas ozone is formed by sharing of electrons among three atoms (O=O-O or O-O=O). It is less stable and decays to diatomic oxygen resulting in higher percentage of diatomic oxygen.
The atomic number of oxygen is 8 and its electronic configuration is 2,6. As there are six electrons present in the outermost shell of oxygen, it is two electrons short of achieving noble gas configuration.
It does so by sharing two electrons with another oxygen and forms double bond (O = O) .
Whereas ozone is formed by sharing of electrons among three atoms (O=O-O or O-O=O). It is less stable and decays to diatomic oxygen resulting in higher percentage of diatomic oxygen.
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