Question

According to Wikipedia, the element Polonium, atomic number 84, is a rare and highly radioactive element with no stable isotopes, discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie. When reacted with HCl, polonium forms polonium tetrachloride, PoCl₄.

Sketch the 3D molecule, including any lone pairs present. Indicate all Cl-Po-Cl bond angles

Classify PoCl₄ as nonpolar compound with nonpolar bonds, polar compound with polar bonds, or nonpolar compound with polar bonds. On your sketch in (B), indicate any dipoles present with d+ and d- notation. If a net dipole is present, draw in a net dipole vector using arrow notation (⇸, arrow points to the negative net dipole) (5pts)

Answer 1

Po belong to the group the group of oxygen in the periodic table. It has the electronic configuration of 6p⁴6s² in the valence shell. Thus fo rbonding with Cl the total no of electrons utilised in the bonding is 7*4 (for four chlorine)+ 6 (for one Po) =34 electrons.

Thus the bond pair of the molecule is 4 and the remainder is 2 which gives one lone pair. The bond pairs are found by dividing the total no of electrons (valence) by 8 and the remainder gives the lone pairs.