VSEPR ModelVSEPR Model
The valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) model focuses on the bonding and nonbonding electron pairs present in the outermost (valence) shell of an atom that connects with two or more other atoms.
Fundamentally, the VSEPR model theorizes that these regions of negative electric charge will repel each other, causing them (and the chemical bonds that they form) to stay as far apart as possible.
Therefore, the two electron clouds contained in a simple triatomic molecule AX 2
will extend out in opposite directions. An angular separation of 180° places the two bonding orbitals as far away from each other as possible; we therefore expect the two chemical bonds to extend in opposite directions, producing a linear molecule.
