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>> ... A free radical is ... an atom or molecule that has a valence shell with >> one unpaired binding electon. ... A simple example of a free radical occurs >> when we had light to chemicals such as Boron (Br2). When Br2 splits, it does >> so via a heterolytic cleavage and leaves each Boron atom with 7 electrons in >> its valence shell. >`Br' is BROMINE!!!, a liquid halogen. It behaves as you say. Boron is `B', a >solid, and its chemistry is different. It has a very odd habit of sharing Geez - of course it is. That's what I get for typing a response BEFORE I engage my brain. >electrons between THREE atoms in stable compounds, so that, with 3 valency >electrons each, each atom ends up with a share in 8 electrons; it refuses to >go metallic. It likes arranging 12 boron atoms in a hollow sphere. It absorbs >neutrons at a great rate, and thus metal borides are used to make control >rods for nuclear reactors. >`heterolytic': `hetero-' = "the other" in Greek: surely this means cleavage to >a Br+ and a Br- to keep the electrons paired, rather than to two neutral Br? Hmmm, I'll have to double check this tonight, but you're probably right. Hetero also, in our world implies "two" as in heterosexual, while homo implies "one" as in homosexual, so, by this reasoning, you are correct. >> ... the chemical makeup of a "superoxide anion" so I cannot determine if it >> is a free radical ... >The superoxide ion is O2-, an oxygen molecule with one more electron, i.e. it >is a free radical. Potassium will form a superoxide if burnt, sometimes. I What type of hybridization does this ion show and what are the valence shells used??? >read that if potassium superoxide is used as rebreather absorbent, as it >absorbs CO2 and water vapour it gives off more than the oxygen that the diver >used up in making that CO2 and water vapour. There once was a make of oxygen >rebreather called `Oxylite' that worked that way instead of having an oxygen >cylinder, I read once; probably intended as an industrial or coalmine rescue >set, but it was used for diving early this century when the first time a film >of `20000 Leagues under the Sea' was made. >The ordinary oxygen molecule is a bit like a divalent free radical; but as >this is techdiver and not tech_quantum_mechanics, I will leave it there. I'd be curious to hear your quantum mechanical reasons. -Carl-
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