Question

In the molecule SF4, sulfur makes four covalent bonds. Therefore, four of its six valence electrons need to be unpaired. The orbitals with the same energy are known as degenerate orbitals. For example, the p subshell has three degenerate orbital, namely, px, py, and pz. How many degenerate orbitals are needed to contain six electrons with four of them unpaired?

Answer 1

Explanation:

As it is given that there are six electrons with four of them unpaired in the degenerate orbital.

As in a p-orbital there are only 3 sub-orbitals, that is, $p_{x}$, $p_{y}$, and $p_{z}$. In these sub-orbitals, a maximum of 6 electrons can be accommodated.

Th next higher orbital is d-orbital which can contain a maximum of 10 electrons. There are 5 degenerate orbitals present in a d-orbital.

So, a d-orbital can easily accommodate six electrons with four of them unpaired.

Thus, we can conclude that 5 degenerate orbitals are needed to contain six electrons with four of them unpaired.