Structure of the SO2 molecule

In an exam, do you think I can get away with saying that the bond angle in SO2 is 117.5 degrees, since each lone pair does decrease the size of the angle by 2.5 degrees as lone pairs repel more that bonding pairs.

Reply 1

aditya nair12344

i would recommend only going down by like 1-2 degrees as it is normally 120 * for 3 bonding pairs so 1 lone pair it would be like 118, as yes the 2.5 is correct but that is only for tetrahedral shapes shapes that have 4 bonds, this is 3, 2 Bonding and 1 lone, and so there is a smaller decrease in the bond angle so 1-2 degree decrease would be better but dont worry about it as they giev you a pretty big range i think it is like 4 degrees range for AQA

Reply 2

TypicalNerd

Original post

by AnamikaCheema101

That approximation is commonly taught at A level, so you likely would get away with it in an exam.

SO2 happens to be a molecule the approximation almost agrees with as the actual bond angle is 119°. The above explanation for why this is the case is pretty good.