Degeneracy

[305113590]

Why is it that SO2F2 have 6 possible orientation/microstates, but FClO3 have 4 possible orientations? Is there a method to determine this number?

[Aarti K Jain 1L]

There is more complexity in the SO2F2, whereas FClO3 doesn't have the same complexity. For the FClO3, the position of the Cl changes, so there are four possible places for the Cl to be. For the SO2F2, the oxygens and fluorines can change positions, so there are more orientations/microstates because four atoms are changing places, not just one.

[Ronald Thompson 1F]

You have to look at the number of different arrangements of atoms. Best way is to draw lewis structures

[ryanhon2H]

You can determine degeneracy by looking at all the possible arrangements of the molecules, like if the positions of atoms changed.

[deepto_mizan1H]

In addition to the responses above, it's important to draw the structures for the molecules we are considering, as it can help us to see what the resonance structures are and to total the amount of equal energy states (or positions) that we have. From this information it'll allow us to determine degeneracy without much information given.