Which one of the following molecules is expected to exhibit diamagnetic behaviour?

A
$C_{2}$
B
$N_{2}$
C
$O_{2}$
D
$S_{2}$

Solution:

The electronic configuration of the given molecules are

$\begin{array}{ll} C_{2} (σ 2 s)^{2} (σ * 2 s)^{2} {(π 2 p_{x})}^{2} {(π 2 p_{y})}^{2} \\ N_{2} (σ 2 s)^{2} (σ * 2 s)^{2} {(π 2 p_{x})}^{2} {(π 2 p_{y})}^{2} {(σ^{*} 2 p_{z})}^{2} \\ O_{2} (σ 2 s)^{2} (σ * 2 s)^{2} {(σ 2 p_{z})}^{2} {(π 2 p_{x})}^{2} {(π 2 p_{y})}^{2} {(π * 2 p_{x})}^{1} {(π^{*} 2 p_{y})}^{'} \\ S_{2} (σ 3 s)^{2} (σ * 3 s)^{2} {(π 3 p_{x})}^{2} {(π 3 p_{y})}^{2} {(σ^{*} 3 p_{z})}^{2} {(π * 3 p_{x})}^{1} {(π^{*} 3 p_{y})}^{'} \end{array}$

The molecules $C_{2}$ and $N_{2}$ do not possess unpaired electrons. Hence, these are expected to exhibit diamagnetic behaviour.

Solution:

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