A homonuclear diatomic molecule of a second-period element has its highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) as the doubly degenerate ^ * antibonding orbitals. If these ^ * orbitals contain a total of exactly two electrons, the bond order and the magnetic nature of the molecule respectively are

Step-by-step solution

The molecular orbital configuration for the given molecule up to the HOMO is: 1s^2 ^ * 1s^2 2s^2 ^ * 2s^2 2p_z^2 2p_x^2 = 2p_y^2 ^ * 2p_x^1 = ^ * 2p_y^1 According to Hund's rule of maximum multiplicity, the two electrons in the degenerate ^ * orbitals will occupy separate orbitals with parallel spins. This gives 2 unpaired electrons, making the molecule paramagnetic. Number of bonding electrons ( N_b ) = 10 Number of antibonding electrons ( N_a ) = 6 Bond order = 1 2 (N_b - N_a) = 1 2 (10 - 6) = 2 . This configurat