Bond Order
The bond order may be defined as the number of pairs of electrons that are present between the two atoms in a molecule or we can say that the number of bonds that are present between the two atoms defines the bond order of that molecule. Bond order is the result of the difference in bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals in a molecule.
Bond Order Formula
Chemistry deals with various particles, atoms, or elements and the chemical reactions between them. All the chemical reactions that take place are directly the result of the formation or breaking of bonds between the elements. Whenever two atoms combine to form a molecule, they form bonds between themselves. These bonds may be ionic or covalent. In both cases, the electrons are the ones that play an important role in bond formation as any bond is the result of the transfer or sharing of electrons between two atoms. Thus the number of electrons involved in the formation of a molecule decides the number of bonds between the atoms. This leads to the definition of the term Bond Order. The term bond order was first coined by Linus Pauling and he is known to introduce the concept of bond order. Bond order is a very crucial and significant term in molecular orbital theory (MOT). In this article, we shall learn what is bond order and how to calculate it.