Question

The shape of water molecule which should be tetrahedral has a bent or distorted tetrahedral shape with a bond angle $104.5^{0}$. What could be the reason for this?

• A. lp-lp repulsion is more than lp-bp repulsion
• B. lp-bp repulsion is more than lp-lp repulion.
• C. lp-lp repulsion is equal to lp-bp repulsion.
• D. Presence of lone pair does not affect the bond angle.

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

lp-lp repulsion is more than lp-bp repulsion

Answer 2

: Due to presence of lone pairs, the repulsion is more which changes the bond angle to $104.5^{0}$