SF4

[Andrea_1H]

In Friday's lecture, what did Lavelle mean when he said that one of the equatorial (?) positions is where we place the lone pairs? What does that mean, and what does that do in terms of the electrons and the bond angles?

[805097738]

does this mean the lone pair is place equally between the bonding atoms because its repulsion would create this positioning?

[J Medina 2I]

Lone pairs and bonds need to be placed where they will cause the least amount of repulsion. Considering lone-pairs have a stronger amount of repulsion than bonds do, their placement is prioritized in terms of where it will cause the least amount of repulsion. In the see-saw example shown in class the lone pair was placed in the equatorial position because it would strongly repel two bonds at 90 degrees instead of three bonds if the lone pair were to be placed in the axial position.

[Hussain Chharawalla 1G]

Yes, just like the above post says. Another thing to remember is that this only applies for the trigonal bipyramidal arrangement or seesaw shape