diatomic

(adjective)

consisting of two atoms

Related Terms

Examples of diatomic in the following topics:

  • Homonuclear Diatomic Molecules

    • Diatomic molecules are composed of only two atoms, of either the same or different chemical elements.
    • Common diatomic molecules include hydrogen (H2), nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and carbon monoxide (CO).
    • The bond in a homonuclear diatomic molecule is non-polar due to the electronegativity difference of zero.
    • All diatomic molecules are linear, which is the simplest spatial arrangement of atoms.
    • A space-filling model of the homonuclear diatomic molecule nitrogen.

  • Heteronuclear Diatomic Molecules

    • Heteronuclear diatomic molecules are composed of two atoms of two different elements.
    • In heteronuclear diatomic molecules, atomic orbitals only mix when the electronegativity values are similar.
    • While MOs for homonuclear diatomic molecules contain equal contributions from each interacting atomic orbital, MOs for heteronuclear diatomics contain different atomic orbital contributions.
    • Hydrogen chloride, HCl, is a diatomic molecule consisting of a hydrogen atom H and a chlorine atom Cl connected by a covalent single bond.
    • Recognize when the atomic orbitals in a heteronuclear diatomic molecule will mix.

  • Properties of Oxygen

    • At standard temperature and pressure (STP), two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen, a colorless, odorless, tasteless diatomic gas with the formula O2.
    • Diatomic oxygen gas currently constitutes 20.8 percent of the volume of air.
    • The two oxygen atoms in diatomic oxygen are chemically bonded to each other with a spin triplet electron configuration.
    • These orbitals are classified as antibonding (weakening the bond order from three to two), so the diatomic oxygen bond is weaker than the diatomic nitrogen triple bond, in which all bonding molecular orbitals are filled, but some antibonding orbitals are not.

  • Reactions of Alkanes

    • In this reaction, UV light or heat initiates a chain reaction, cleaving the covalent bond between the two atoms of a diatomic halogen.
    • Here, propane is brominated using diatomic bromine.

  • Dispersion Force

    • Nitrogen gas (N2) is diatomic and non-polar because both nitrogen atoms have the same degree of electronegativity.

  • Halogen Compounds

    • Diatomic interhalogen compounds such as BrF, ICl, and ClF bear resemblance to the pure halogens in some respects.
    • The properties and behavior of a diatomic interhalogen compound tend to be intermediates of those of its parent halogens.

  • Avogadro's Law: Volume and Amount

    • In particular, the existence of diatomic molecules of elements such as H2, O2, and Cl2 was not recognized until the results of experiments involving gas volumes was interpreted.
    • However, when chemists found that an assumed reaction of H + Cl $\rightarrow$ HCl yielded twice the volume of HCl, they realized hydrogen and chlorine were diatomic molecules.

  • Polar Ozone Holes

    • The chlorine breaks an oxygen off from ozone, producing diatomic oxygen.
    • The resulting ClO can also destroy another ozone molecule to form more diatomic oxygen:

  • Single Covalent Bonds

    • For instance, the diatomic hydrogen molecule, H2, can be written as H—H to indicate the single covalent bond between the two hydrogen atoms.

  • Physical Properties of Covalent Molecules

    • For example, the theory predicts the existence of diatomic molecules such as hydrogen, H2, and the halogens (F2, Cl2, Br2, I2).