Lone vs. Bonding Pair

[JohnWalkiewicz2J]

Can someone explain to me why lone pairs around the central atom have more repulsion than bonded pairs? Thnx! : )

[JonathanS 1H]

Lone pairs are not bound to another atom, so the repulsion forces are not weakened by protons in another atom.

[Althea Zhao 1B]

Lone pairs take up more space - they push away other atoms.

[J Medina 2I]

Lone pairs take up more space making the rest of the bonds move away in order to lower repulsion.

[Grecia Velasco 1G]

Lone pairs take up more space than bonded pairs.

[Anna Heckler 2C]

Lone pairs occupy more space than a bonded pair of electrons, therefore causing greater repulsion from other bonded pairs.

[Jordan Ziegler 2J]

Lone pairs also exist closer to other bonds in the molecule; they aren’t pulled away from the central atom by another electronegative atom. Therefore, they will have more repulsion than a bond.