Question

What is molecular orbital?

Answer 1

In chemistry, molecular orbital (MO) theory is a method for describing the electronic structure of molecules. Electrons are not assigned to individual bonds between atoms, but are treated as moving under the influence of the nuclei in the whole molecule.

Definition: A molecular orbital is an orbital or wavefunction of a molecule's electron. Electrons around a molecule can be associated with more than one atom and are often expressed as a combination of atomic orbitals.

In chemistry, a molecular orbital (MO) is a mathematical function describing the wave-like behavior of an electron in a molecule. This function can be used to calculate chemical and physical properties such as the probability of finding an electron in any specific region. The term orbital was introduced by Robert S. Mulliken in 1932 as an abbreviation for one-electron orbital wave function.At an elementary level, it is used to describe the region of space in which the function has a significant amplitude. Molecular orbitals are usually constructed by combining atomic orbitals or hybrid orbitals from each atom of the molecule, or other molecular orbitals from groups of atoms. They can be quantitatively calculated using the Hartree–Fock or self-consistent field (SCF) methods.

In chemistry, molecular orbital(MO) theory is a method for determining molecular structure in which electrons are not assigned to individual bonds between atoms, but are treated as moving under the influence of the nuclei in the whole molecule.