winter 2012 midterm question 3A

[704278444]

How do you determine W (microstates)of BH2F and O2?
In the answer:
W for BH2F=3, is it because that B forms three bonds?
and How is W for O2 is 1?
Thanks!

[Chem_Mod]

Consider the number of ways you could arrange 2 bonds in 3 spaces, i.e. 3!/(2!(3-2)!) = 3
O2 has only one bond and therefore only one configuration, so W = 1

[Lauren Ton 4B]

Why do you consider only 2 bonds for the three spaces? Can you go into more depth for the explanation for why W=3 for BH2F?

[Neil DSilva 1L]

This is how I visualized finding W for BH2F. There's three possible states and only one molecule, so W = 3.