Question

What does the subscript 2 indicate in the formula O2? Oxygen transferred 2 electrons to form the bond. Each oxygen atom is sharing two electrons. There are two atoms in the molecule. There are two valence electrons in the molecule.

Answer 1

Answer:

C) There are two atoms in the molecule.

Explanation:

In convention (accepted style) of writing out chemical equations and formular, it is understood that the subscript after an element tells us the number of atoms of said element.

For example, in the compound below, we can tell that;

H₂CO₃

There are 2 hydrogen atoms, 1 carbon atom and 3 Oxygen atoms.

We apply same principle to O2 and we now know the number 2 signifies the number of atoms present in the molecule.

Applying elimination on the other options, we have;

A) This option is not correct because electrons transferred or gained are represented by a charge which is the superscript after the element. E.g O²⁻

B) This option is wrong because sharing of electrons are not represented in the formular of a molecule or compound.

D) Valance electrons are usually represented by oxidation number. So this is wrong too.

Answer 2

Answer:There are two atoms in the molecule.

Explanation: All gases are diatomic i.e they are covalently bonded to another atom of the same element in order to attain stability. O atom is usually unstable because of it's incompletely filled outermost shell.