Bond Angles

[Shundeen Martinez 1D]

What are bond angles and how can you predict them?

[Hedi Zappacosta 1E]

Bond angles are determined by the largest angle between to atoms in a molecule. It is dependent on how many bonds are in the molecule. For example, a molecule with two bonds coming off of the central atom will be linear, as a 180 degree angle is the largest possible angle between these two bonds.

[Linyu Zeng 1H]

bond angles are the angles between two bondings in a atom (consider the bondings as lines and the central atom as the point). I think we can predicts them by putting atoms to achieve a most stable structure (basically by putting the atoms bound to the central one as far apart as possible), and calculate the angles (if we can).

[DavidEcheverri3J]

What is the lowest degree that bonds can have in between each other? I know that electron repulsion leads to the largest possible degree of separation, but what could the lowest degree be?

[Lucy Agnew 3E]

Bond angles are caused by the laws of electron repulsion theory, and atoms that interact around a central atom they are all bonded to orientate themselves to produce the most stable structure

[204765696]

To identify bond angles and shape, locate the central atom and see how many bonds are connected to it. You also have to count the lone pairs as bonds. If the number of bonds is 2, the shape is linear and angles are 180 degrees. If the number of bonds is 3, then the shape is triagonal planar and angles are 120 degrees. If the number of bonds is 4 then the shape is tetrahedral and angles are 109 degrees. etc etc

[Riya Shah 4H]

Are we supposed to remember bond angles?

[Shundeen Martinez 1D]

Also when can we know that bond angles are less than what they usually are? Like I remember in lecture Lavelle said a bond angle was 106.5 degrees.

[Kathryn 1F]

Also when can we know that bond angles are less than what they usually are? Like I remember in lecture Lavelle said a bond angle was 106.5 degrees.

I think the one he was talking about was SO_3^2- (sulfite). By drawing the lewis structure, we see that the central atom, S, has 4 regions of electron density (1 lone pair and 3 bonds). This makes the shape trigonal pramidal. If it were tetrahedral, the bond angle would be 109.5, but because the lone pair wants to be as far away as possible, it pushes the 3 bonds away from it. This pushes the bonding pairs closer to each other, making the angle <109.5, or 106.

[Yukta Italia 3I]

Yes I believe we are supposed to remember bond angles. I think the easiest thing to do is memorize them, but you can always try to visualize by drawing out the Lewis structure. That may get frustrating on a test with limited time though.

[Brice McKeown 3D]

Why is it that molecules with the same VESPR formula and lone pairs present have different bond angles? For example, look at the VESPR formula AX2E. O3 has bond angles of 116.8, but SO2 has bond angles of 119.5.

[Arlene Linares 3A]

Bond angles are determined by the largest angle between to atoms in a molecule. It is dependent on how many bonds are in the molecule. For example, a molecule with two bonds coming off of the central atom will be linear, as a 180 degree angle is the largest possible angle between these two bonds.

Thank you and Can you give another example?

[Arlene Linares 3A]

Why is it that molecules with the same VESPR formula and lone pairs present have different bond angles? For example, look at the VESPR formula AX2E. O3 has bond angles of 116.8, but SO2 has bond angles of 119.5.

I see thank you.

[Jaifreen_Bhangu_3K]

You could just memorize the angles. However, it's possible that we may have to explain why a certain bond angle is less than 109 degrees, etc.