Few Terms

Antibonding Molecular Orbital  -  A molecular orbital that results from an out-of-phase overlap of atomic orbitals to produce an orbital that is higher in energy than either of its parent molecular orbitals.

Atomic Orbital  -  A hydrogenic wavefunction, e.g. 1s, 2p, 3d.

Bond  -  That which holds together atoms in molecules and ions in lattices.

Bonding Molecular Orbital  -  A molecular orbital that results from an in-phase overlap of atomic orbitals that has a lower energy than either of its parent atomic orbitals.

Bond Order  -  The difference between the number of bonding electron pairs an the number of antibonding electron pairs in a molecule.

Covalent Bond  -  A bond that results from a sharing of electrons between nuclei.

Hybridization  -  The process by which atomic orbitals are combined to produce a new set of orbitals suitable for use in a discussion of bonding in polynuclear atoms.

Ion  -  A charged species created by the gain or loss of an electron from an atom or neutral molecule.

Ionic Bond  -  A bond that results from electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions. The cation is positively charged, while the anion is negatively charged.

Lattice  -  A regularly repeating three-dimensional array of atoms, molecules, or ions.

Lewis Structure  -  A description of a covalent bond whereby electrons are represented by dots and a bond is represented by placing a line between the two atoms in that bond. Only valence electrons are shown in Lewis structures.

Lone Pair  -  A nonbonding pair of electrons.

Molecule  -  A chemical species containing a covalent bond.

Molecular Orbital  -  A combination of atomic orbitals in molecular orbital theory that provides an orbital description of a molecule analogous to the atomic orbital