Inorganic Chemistry> How many unpaired electrons are present i...

How many unpaired electrons are present in superoxide ion?

Suraj Singh , 8 Years ago

Grade 12

6 Answers

Umakant biswal

Last Activity: 8 Years ago

dear suraj
there is only 1 unpair electron present in superoxide ion .
thus it have -1 charge assigned to it .
HOPE IT CLEARS
REGARDS

Suraj Singh

Last Activity: 8 Years ago

It`s unfortunately wrong... NOt less than 100 char

DR STRANGE

Last Activity: 8 Years ago

Hi Suraj,

first you need to understand what is superoxide ion

it is O₂^-

in oxygen atom there are 6 electrons in the outermost shell

in oxygen molecule O₂ , two elcetrons are shared (one electron from each atom) ,wbu

remaining 5 electrons? two pairs are formed and one unpaired electron in both atoms hence two unpaired electrons.

in case of superoxide ion there is one more electron added which gets paired with one the unpaired electrons of O₂ . So finally we have one unpaired electron in superoxide ion.

i tried my best to explain , please ask if you still have doubt

please aprrove if you are satisfied :)

Umakant biswal

Last Activity: 8 Years ago

dear suraj
superoxide ion have 1 unpair electron , thats fully correct , if u can refer to the molecular orbital theory configuration , then u can see , only 1 unpair electron are there ,
rest electron are paired .
KINDLY CHECK THE COURCE OF YOUR ANSWER
ALL THE BEST
REGARDS

Suraj Singh

Last Activity: 8 Years ago

But the answer is 3.. As in molecular orbital theory the unpaired electrons in oxygen molecule is 2.. It accepts 1 electron to form superoxide ion.. That electron instead of pairing with 2 HOMO unpaired electrons it goes in LUMO so the total number of unpaired electrons is 3.... As given in answer