Supposedly every atom that is in the second period of the periodic table has to obey the octet rule; this means that they have to be surrounded by 8 electrons (or so I was taught). Studying resonance in an exercise, they showed how nitrogen as NO₂ can form 5 bonds, which would mean that NO₂ does not behave according to the rule previously mentioned. I am at a loss; any help would be great.
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Does this answer your question – Zenix Mar 29 '20 at 16:43
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https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/9448/structure-of-no2-compound – Mithoron Mar 29 '20 at 16:49
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1Does this answer your question? Why don't unstable odd electron species dimerize so that they become stable? – Mithoron Mar 29 '20 at 16:55
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Capitalization can be important - your question title is asking about the diatomic Nobelium molecule, and I have no clue if that is even a thing... – Jon Custer Mar 30 '20 at 17:57
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Because not everything has to. – Oscar Lanzi Jan 24 '24 at 23:07
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No atom has to obey the octet rule. It is a rule. It has no theoretical justification. It works often. But that's all that could be stated. And a lot of compounds are known that do not follow this rule like $O_2, NO, B_2H_6$, etc. And Nitrogen does not form 5 bonds. It cannot. $4$ bonds is the maximum for atoms of the second period (Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F).
Maurice
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