A non-bonding orbital is an atomic or molecular orbital that does not participate in the bonding between atoms in a molecule. In molecular orbital theory, when atomic orbitals combine, they can form bonding orbitals, antibonding orbitals, and non-bonding orbitals: 1. **Bonding Orbitals**: These orbitals are lower in energy than the contributing atomic orbitals, and they promote stability by allowing electron density to be concentrated between the nuclei of the bonded atoms.
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