The following diagram shows the potential energy of two atoms as a function of internuclear distance. Which bond is the strongest? Which bond is the longest?

Video transcript

welcome back everyone, the potential energy of two atoms as a function of inter nuclear distances shown in the illustration below identify the longest bond and the strongest bond. So we want to recall our concept of bond length and we want to recall that bond length is defined as the inter nuclear distance where potential energy as a minimum occurs, so where the potential energy minimum occurs. And so we can deduce that the shorter the bond length will correspond to a stronger bond. So looking at the inter nuclear distance based on the data first for bond wc, we see that we have a pretty small inter nuclear distance in comparison to the inter nuclear distance at the point of minimum energy for bond XY here, which is much longer. And so for bond X. Y. We would say we have a longer bond and so therefore it's going to be a weaker bond. And based on our diagram for bond W. Z. We have that shorter inter nuclear distance. So we have a shorter bond. And so bond W. Z. Is going to be the stronger bond. So for our final answer we can confirm that bond Xy is the longer bond and bond W. Z. Is going to be the stronger bond. So it's highlighted in yellow are our final answers. I hope everything I reviewed was clear. If you have any questions, please leave them down below and I'll see everyone in the next practice video