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Ch.9 - Molecular Geometry and Bonding Theories

Chapter 9, Problem 14b

(b) The PCl3 molecule is trigonal pyramidal, while ICl3 is T-shaped. Which of these molecules is flat?

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Video transcript

Hello. Everyone in this video we're given that the peace L5 compound has a triggered by Parameter Geometry. Well the Cl F three is going to be T shaped. It's like asking which one is not going to have a flat shape. So we draw the geometries first and kind of evaluate after. So first we have the PCL five and that triggered not by parameter geometry. So we have our central atom and we have one item going up like this and one going down Then the other three is going to kind of be like a triangle. So have one going away or coming out at us, another one going out at us and one going in the back. So definitely this it's not going to be flat. What about the other 1? Well let's see. So The c. l. F. three which is a T sheet. So the T shape. Again we have our central then we have three Adams is connected to looking something like this. As you can see this is why it's called the t shirt. It looks exactly like a letter T. This definitely looks very, very flat because in our case right here this item is actually going away from us. Then these two are going towards us. And in this case then I would say that this is but so the question asking us which molecule does not have a flat shape. So go ahead right now our answer which one does not have a flat shape. That's going to be R P C L five and that is going to be our finance er for this problem.