Question: 62. Given below are two statements:
Statement I: A hypothetical diatomic molecule with bond order zero is quite stable.
Statement II: As bond order increases, the bond length increases.
In the light of the above statements, chose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
(1) Both statement I and Statement II are true
(2) Both statement I and Statement II are false
(3) Statement I is true but Statement II is false
(4) Statement I is true but Statement II is true
Answer: Option (2)
Explanation:
Bond order is defined as:
\text{Bond order} = \frac{\text{Number of bonding electrons} - \text{Number of antibonding electrons}}{2}A bond order of zero means that the number of bonding electrons is equal to the number of antibonding electrons.
In such a case, there is no net bond formation between the atoms.
Therefore, a hypothetical diatomic molecule with bond order zero is unstable and does not exist.
Hence, Statement I is false.
Bond order is inversely related to bond length.
As bond order increases, the strength of the bond increases, pulling the atoms closer together.
Thus, bond length decreases with increase in bond order.
Therefore, Statement II, which says bond length increases with bond order, is also false.
Since both Statement I and Statement II are false,
the correct answer is Option (2).