CO Paramagnetic/Diamagnetic & Bond Strength

[camboguy]

Question Details:
Is CO paramagnetic or diamagnetic? i put diamagnetic because there are no lone paris is that corrects?

and

If CO gained one election, becoming CO^-, would the bond become weaker or stronger? i believe that the bond would become weaker since there is one lone pari and it makes it an ion and wants to lose the added election, is that correct?

 

[Ygggdrasil]

The best way to answer these questions and check whether you are correct is to draw the molecular orbital diagrams. The diagram would directly show you whether you have any unpaired electrons (unpaired electrons, not lone pairs, make a substance diamagnetic or paramagnetic). Furthermore, the diagram would allow you to calculate the bond order from the number of electrons in bonding and antibonding orbitals, and this would tell you whether the bond order increases or decreases when you add an electron to CO.

 

[Blueshift5]

CO is a paramagnetic molecule. This means that it has unpaired electrons in its bonding orbitals, making it attracted to an external magnetic field. This is due to the presence of a lone pair of electrons on the carbon atom, which creates a net spin and gives the molecule a magnetic moment.

If CO gained one electron and became CO^-, it would still be a paramagnetic molecule. However, the bond between the carbon and oxygen atoms would become weaker due to the added negative charge on the molecule. This added electron would also repel the existing electrons in the bonding orbitals, making the bond less stable. Overall, the bond strength would decrease as a result of the added electron.