Answer:
[tex]\boxed{\text{O}_{2}^{+}}[/tex]
Explanation:
We must fill in the MO diagrams and calculate the bond orders for each species.
1. O₂⁺
An O atom has six valence electrons, so two O atoms have 12 valence electrons.
O₂⁺ has lost an electron. In Figure 1, we give one O atom six electrons and the other atom five.
Then we add 11 electrons to the molecular orbitals, using the same rules as for atomic orbitals.
Bond order = (Bonding electrons – antibonding electrons)/2
BO = ½(B – A)
B = ½ (8 – 3) = 2.5
2. O₂
O₂ has 12 valence electrons, so we put 12 electrons in Figure 2 and calculate the bonding order.
B = ½ (8 - 4) = 2
3. O₂⁻
O₂⁻ has 13 valence electrons, so we put 13 electrons in Figure 3 and calculate the bonding order.
B = ½ (8 – 5) = 1.5
The species with the highest bond order has the strongest bonds.
O₂⁺ has the highest bond order, so [tex]\boxed{\text{O}_{2}^{+}}[/tex] has the strongest bonds.
