In the molecule ClF3, chlorine makes three covalent bonds. Therefore, three of its seven valence electrons need to be unpaired. The orbitals with the same energy are known as degenerate orbitals. For example, the p subshell has three degenerate orbital, namely, px, py, and pz. How many degenerate orbitals are needed to contain seven electrons with three of them unpaired

In n = 3 there are 7 electrons out of which 2 are in s , and 5 are in p . But out of 5 electrons in p , one electron jumps into d orbital . so the electronic configuration becomes as follows

[tex]3s^23p_x^23p_y^23p_z^1[/tex] = 7

[tex]3s^23p_x^23p_y^13p_z^13d_{xy}^1[/tex]

These orbitals like sp³d hybridise to form 7 degenerate orbitals out of which 2 orbitals contain electrons in pairs and rest three are singly occupied by electrons.( unpaired electrons )

pstnonsonjoku pstnonsonjoku · Answer 2 · 2021-11-16T22:24:47+01:00

We need five degenerate orbitals. In that way we can fill in seven electrons into degenerate orbitals and still have three unpaired electrons as requested by the question. These are the orbitals that make up the molecule ClF3.

According to the Pauli exclusion principle, no two electrons in an atom can have the same value for all four quantum numbers. Also, degenerate orbitals are orbitals that are exactly equal in energy. Each orbital holds a total of two electrons.

Where we have seven electrons with three of them unpaired to be filled into degenerate orbitals, we need five degenerate orbitals. Each orbital holds a maximum of two electrons. Two degenerate orbitals holds two paired electrons while the other three degenerate orbitals holds unpaired electrons.

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