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ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-3-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-2b/section-b/36/a/iv/solution

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Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 3 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 2B / Section B / 36 / a / iv / Solution by

Codex  0 2026-10-20

The molecular orbital diagram has one level at

α + 2 β

labelled

A_{1 g}

, two degenerate levels at

α

labelled

E_{u}

, and one level at

α - 2 β

labelled

B_{1 g}

, in increasing energy for

β < 0

. Each spatial molecular orbital admits two opposite-spin electrons. The diagram below also shows how one representative distortion lifts the middle degeneracy; the distorted scale is illustrative, not a fitted molecular spectrum.

Figure 1.
Square-array orbital levels and their splitting in a representative trapezium model
. Details.

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