Thermal decomposition of AgNO 3 produces two paramagnetic gases. The total number of electrons present in the antibonding molecular orbitals of the gas that has the higher number of unpaired electrons is _____ .

Step-by-step solution

2 AgNO 3 s ⟶ s 2 Ag s + 2 NO 2 g + O 2 g Both the NO 2 and O 2 gases are paramagnetic. NO 2 g has 1 unpaired electron and O 2 g has 2 unpaired electrons. According to MOT, electronic configuration of O 2 is σ 1 s 2   σ * 1 s 2   σ 2 s 2   σ * 2 s 2   σ 2 p 2 2   π 2 p x 2 = π 2 λ y 2   π * 2 p x 1 = π * 2 ρ y 1 Total number of electrons present in antibonding molecular orbitals = 6