Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-3-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-2a/section-b/21/c/ii/solution

; the central atom makes no contribution. Let be the radius of the square of outer atoms and the central atom's height above its plane. Then . Adjacent bond vectors have perpendicular in-plane components, so
The centre of mass lies on the fourfold axis, even when . Thus the central atom and the shift of origin along the axis contribute no perpendicular lever arm. The four outer atoms each contribute , giving
The result concerns the smallest adjacent bond angle; the angle between opposite outer atoms is a different angle in a pyramid.

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