What is the total number of electrons present in bonding and antibonding orbitals respectively in F ₂ molecule according to MO theory ?

Step-by-step solution

The atomic number of fluorine ( F ) is 9 . Therefore, the total number of electrons in the F ₂ molecule is 18 . According to Molecular Orbital Theory, the electronic configuration of F ₂ is: _ 1s ^2 ^ * _ 1s ^2 _ 2s ^2 ^ * _ 2s ^2 _ 2p_z ^2 _ 2p_x ^2 _ 2p_y ^2 ^ * _ 2p_x ^2 ^ * _ 2p_y ^2 The electrons present in orbitals without an asterisk are bonding electrons ( N_b ), and those in orbitals with an asterisk are antibonding electrons ( N_a ). Number of bonding electrons ( N_b ) = 2 ( _ 1s ) + 2 ( _ 2s ) + 2 ( _ 2p