{"id":209426,"date":"2025-04-29T05:32:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T05:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=209426"},"modified":"2025-04-29T05:32:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T05:32:59","slug":"use-vsepr-theory-to-predict-the-electron-pair-geometry-and-the-molecular-geometry-of-xenon-tetrafluoride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/29\/use-vsepr-theory-to-predict-the-electron-pair-geometry-and-the-molecular-geometry-of-xenon-tetrafluoride\/","title":{"rendered":"Use VSEPR theory to predict the electron-pair geometry and the molecular geometry of xenon tetrafluoride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Use VSEPR theory to predict the electron-pair geometry and the molecular geometry of xenon tetrafluoride, XeF4.<br>Select one:<br>a. The electron-pair geometry is octahedral, the molecular geometry is square-planar.<br>b. The electron-pair geometry is tetrahedral, the molecular geometry is octahedral.<br>c. The electron-pair geometry is square-planar, the molecular geometry is tetrahedral.<br>d. The electron-pair geometry is tetrahedral, the molecular geometry is tetrahedral.<br>e. The electron-pair geometry is octahedral, the molecular geometry is tetrahedral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is:<br><strong>a. The electron-pair geometry is octahedral, the molecular geometry is square-planar.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Detailed Explanation (300+ words):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To solve this question using <strong>Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory<\/strong>, we first need to determine the <strong>Lewis structure<\/strong> of xenon tetrafluoride (XeF\u2084):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Step 1: Find the number of valence electrons<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Xenon (Xe) is a noble gas in group 18 and has <strong>8 valence electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each fluorine (F) atom is in group 17 and has <strong>7 valence electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since there are four fluorine atoms, total fluorine electrons = 4 \u00d7 7 = <strong>28 electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Total = 8 (Xe) + 28 (F) = <strong>36 valence electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Step 2: Arrange the atoms<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Xenon is the central atom, and four fluorines are placed around it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Step 3: Form bonds<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Each Xe\u2013F bond uses 2 electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4 bonds \u00d7 2 electrons = 8 electrons used for bonding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Step 4: Distribute remaining electrons<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>36 total electrons &#8211; 8 bonding electrons = 28 electrons left.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each F atom needs 6 electrons (3 lone pairs) to complete its octet: 4 \u00d7 6 = 24 electrons used for fluorines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remaining electrons: 28 &#8211; 24 = <strong>4 electrons<\/strong>, which are placed on xenon as <strong>two lone pairs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Step 5: Predict electron-pair and molecular geometry<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Xenon has 4 bonding pairs (to fluorines) and 2 lone pairs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In VSEPR theory, 6 regions of electron density (4 bonds + 2 lone pairs) around the central atom form an <strong>octahedral electron-pair geometry<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, <strong>only the positions of the atoms<\/strong> determine the <strong>molecular geometry<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Because the two lone pairs occupy opposite positions (to minimize repulsion), the molecular shape becomes <strong>square planar<\/strong>\u2014the four fluorine atoms are at the corners of a square, and lone pairs are above and below the plane.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Electron-pair geometry<\/strong>: <strong>Octahedral<\/strong> (because there are 6 regions of electron density).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Molecular geometry<\/strong>: <strong>Square planar<\/strong> (because 2 of the 6 regions are lone pairs, leaving 4 fluorine atoms in a square plane).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, <strong>option (a)<\/strong> is the correct choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Use VSEPR theory to predict the electron-pair geometry and the molecular geometry of xenon tetrafluoride, XeF4.Select one:a. The electron-pair geometry is octahedral, the molecular geometry is square-planar.b. The electron-pair geometry is tetrahedral, the molecular geometry is octahedral.c. The electron-pair geometry is square-planar, the molecular geometry is tetrahedral.d. The electron-pair geometry is tetrahedral, the molecular geometry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}