Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Flashcards, test questions and answers
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What is Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion?
Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) is an important concept in chemistry used to determine the molecular geometry of a molecule. VSEPR theory is based on the idea that electron pairs located in the valence shell of an atom will repel each other and try to move as far away from one another as possible. This creates a certain arrangement of atoms in space, which can be used to predict molecular shape.The basic premise behind VSEPR theory is that electrons have negative charges and so they will repel each other when close together. The strength of this repulsion is determined by the number of electron pairs around the central atom and their arrangement. All molecules are composed of two or more atoms attached together, so when predicting molecular geometries, it’s important to consider both types of atoms present: central atoms and peripheral (or bonding) atoms. In particular, we can look at how many single bonds (sometimes called sigma bonds) there are between these two types of atom, and how many lone pairs there are on each type as well. Using this information about bond types and lone pair numbers, we can use VSEPR theory to determine what kind of spatial arrangement will result for each molecule.