Shapes and Structures 2 - Homonuclear and Heteronuclear Diatomics

Question 1

What are wavefunctions for molecules called?

Answer 1

Molecular orbitals (MOs)

Question 2

What is the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO)?

Answer 2

Form of MOs from combining the atomic orbitals of the constituent atoms

Question 3

How is the MO obtained by LCAO?

Answer 3

MO = c₁ x AO(atom 1) + c₂ x AO(atom 2)

c₁ and c₂ are the orbital coefficients that express the proportions of AOs 1 and 2 in the MO