Oxygen molecule is paramagnetic because

Options

A. no. of bonding electrons `gt` no. of antibonding electrons
B. no. of bonding electrons `lt` no. of antibonding electrons
C. no. of bonding electrons = no. of antibonding electrons
D. presence of unpaired electrons in molecular orbitals.

Answer

D

Explanation

M.O. configuration of `O_(2)` :
`(sigma1s^(2))(sigma^(**)1s^(2))(sigma2s^(2))(sigma^(**)2s^(2))(sigma2p_(z)^(2))(pi2p_(x)^(2)=pi2p_(y)^(2))(pi^(**)2p_(x)^(1) = pi^(**)2p_(y)^(1))`