Question
Question: Which molecule is having same electronic geometry as well as molecular geometry...
Which molecule is having same electronic geometry as well as molecular geometry
A
NCl3
B
PCl5
C
SF4
D
XeF4
Answer
PCl5
Explanation
Solution
The electronic geometry of a molecule is determined by the total number of electron pairs (bonding pairs and lone pairs) around the central atom. The molecular geometry is determined by the arrangement of only the bonding pairs around the central atom. The electronic geometry and molecular geometry are the same when the central atom has no lone pairs.
In PCl5, the central phosphorus atom has 5 valence electrons and forms 5 single bonds with 5 chlorine atoms, resulting in 5 bonding pairs and 0 lone pairs. The steric number is 5, leading to a trigonal bipyramidal electronic geometry and also a trigonal bipyramidal molecular geometry.