{"id":243739,"date":"2025-07-04T15:42:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T15:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=243739"},"modified":"2025-07-04T15:42:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T15:42:34","slug":"determine-the-electron-geometry-eg-and-molecular-geometry-mg-of-pcl5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/04\/determine-the-electron-geometry-eg-and-molecular-geometry-mg-of-pcl5\/","title":{"rendered":"Determine the electron geometry (eg) and molecular geometry (mg) of PCl5."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Determine the electron geometry (eg) and molecular geometry (mg) of PCl5. eg = trigonal bipyramidal, mg = trigonal pyramidal eg = trigonal bipyramidal, mg = trigonal bipyramidal eg = tetrahedral, mg = octahedral eg = trigonal planar, mg = octahedral eg = octahedral, mg = tetrahedral 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is:<br><strong>Electron Geometry (eg) = Trigonal Bipyramidal, Molecular Geometry (mg) = Trigonal Bipyramidal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Phosphorus pentachloride (PCl\u2085) consists of a central phosphorus atom surrounded by five chlorine atoms. Let&#8217;s break it down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Electron Geometry (eg)<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>PCl\u2085 has 5 bonding pairs of electrons around the central phosphorus atom. In a molecule with 5 electron pairs, the electron geometry adopts a <strong>trigonal bipyramidal<\/strong> shape. This arrangement minimizes electron pair repulsion, as predicted by VSEPR theory (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In this geometry, there are 3 positions that form an equatorial plane (in the same horizontal plane), and 2 axial positions (above and below this plane).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Molecular Geometry (mg)<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since all five positions around the phosphorus atom are occupied by chlorine atoms, there is no lone pair on the phosphorus atom.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Therefore, the <strong>molecular geometry<\/strong> also remains <strong>trigonal bipyramidal<\/strong> because there are no deviations caused by lone pairs. If there were lone pairs, they would cause distortions, but in this case, the geometry remains symmetric.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">VSEPR Theory Insight:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The 5 bonding pairs of electrons in PCl\u2085 result in a geometry that minimizes repulsion and maximizes stability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>trigonal bipyramidal<\/strong> shape allows the bonds to be as far away from each other as possible, with bond angles of 90\u00b0 between axial and equatorial positions and 120\u00b0 between the equatorial bonds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the answer is:<br><strong>Electron Geometry (eg) = Trigonal Bipyramidal, Molecular Geometry (mg) = Trigonal Bipyramidal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/learnexams-banner5-354.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-243741\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Determine the electron geometry (eg) and molecular geometry (mg) of PCl5. eg = trigonal bipyramidal, mg = trigonal pyramidal eg = trigonal bipyramidal, mg = trigonal bipyramidal eg = tetrahedral, mg = octahedral eg = trigonal planar, mg = octahedral eg = octahedral, mg = tetrahedral 2 The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The correct [&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 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