Question

1. write the resonance forms of ozone, o₃, the component of the upper atmosphere that protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation. what is the order of the bonds in o₃?

Explanation:

Resonance forms are alternative Lewis structures for a molecule. For ozone (\(O_3\)), we start by calculating the total number of valence electrons. Each \(O\) atom has 6 valence electrons, so for \(O_3\), the total number of valence electrons is \(3\times6 = 18\).
The central \(O\) atom forms bonds with two other \(O\) atoms. In one resonance form, the central \(O\) has a double bond with one \(O\) and a single bond with the other. The oxygen - oxygen bond order is calculated using the formula \( \text{Bond order}=\frac{\text{Number of bonding electron pairs}}{\text{Number of bonds}}\). In \(O_3\), the number of bonding electron pairs is 3 (since there are 3 pairs of electrons involved in bonding between the three \(O\) atoms in the resonance hybrid) and the number of \(O - O\) bonds is 2.

Answer:

The two resonance forms of \(O_3\) are:
\(\ce{O - O = O}\) and \(\ce{O = O - O}\) (where the double - bond can be on either side of the central \(O\) atom).
The bond order of the \(O - O\) bonds in \(O_3\) is \(1.5\).