Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/2/a/v/solution
Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Paper 1 2 a v Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
No ordinary covalent bond is expected. He's filled 1s orbital is very low in energy, whereas Be supplies another filled shell and much higher empty valence orbitals. Mixing the two occupied s combinations gives no net elementary bond-order gain, and their large energy mismatch limits useful shared covalent character. A very weak dispersion-bound encounter is a different possibility; the answer concerns a conventional covalent bond.
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