the bond angle of cl2o is greater than that of h2o despite the fact that the electronegativity of cl is more than that of h (my query is in accordance to bent rule), why is so? please help.

Beacuse Cl is being the larger in size than H atom.

It tends to stretch longer and wide and therefore, tends to have more bond angle.

.

But still the main reason would be the lone pairs present on Cl atom.

Both the Cl atoms tends to repel each other and therfore the bond angle increases.

But in H case it is not so.

Both the compounds here have same central atom.

But the equatorial atoms are different.

Chlorine is more electronegative than hydrogen and thus chlorine attracts the shared pair of electrons towards itself more strongly than oxygen does. Thus , causing repulsion more than that caused by oxygen in H2O.

 

Due to back bonding in Cl2O only one lone pair remains on oxygen and other is converted into pi bond. So hybridisation is SP2 (120°)where as in h20 hybridisation is sp3(109.5°) 

Dear student,

Please find the attached answer to your problem

 

The main reason behind this is the huge gap in size of Cl and H atom.

In both the compounds O is the central atom but, Cl being excessively large with lone pairs causes strong repulsion with the other Cl atom in Cl2O thereby increasing the bond angle. However H is the smallest element and the repulsion between individual H atoms is very weak, thus it has a relatively smaller bond angle.

 

Hope it helps.

Thanks and regards,

Kushagra