Lone Pairs

[905092269]

Can someone explain why lone pairs are more likely to found in certain locations around a central atom and
how and why they affect the bond angles in a molecule, cation, or anion?

[Vana Mirzakhani 3I]

Lone pairs have great repulsion strength from one another, always trying to move as far apart as possible while keeping an equally distributed distance from the central atom.

[hanna_maillard3B]

lone pairs on a central atom has exceptional repulsion strength so they try to repel all nearby bonds/electrons which is why some molecules with a lone pair on the central atom that should have a certain bond angle, have slightly different ones; the lone pair pushes the bonded pairs closer to one another. So, a tetrahedral for example, should have a 109.5* bond, but if there is a lone pair on the central atom which counts as one of the regions of electron density, then the bond will be slightly less than 109.5*.

[Arlene Linares 3A]

Lone pairs have great repulsion strength from one another, always trying to move as far apart as possible while keeping an equally distributed distance from the central atom.

Thank you

[Kavya Juwadi 3C]

One example of a specific lone pair placement would be that in a molecule with square pyramidal geometry, the lone pair would be on the axial plane rather than the equatorial plane.

[Sreyes_1C]

A lone pair of electrons at a central atom always tries to repel bonded pair of electrons. So, the bonds are displaced slightly, which leads to a decrease of bond angle.