Is He2 stable? Is it diamagnetic or paramagnetic? What is it’s bond order?
He2, also known as helium dimer, is not stable under normal conditions because helium atoms have filled electron shells and do not form strong chemical bonds. However, He2 can exist as a weakly bound van der Waals molecule in certain conditions, such as extremely low temperatures and high pressures.
He2 is expected to be diamagnetic, meaning it does not possess any unpaired electrons and is not attracted to a magnetic field. This is because both helium atoms have completely filled 1s orbitals with two electrons each.
The bond order of He2, which is a measure of the number of chemical bonds between two atoms in a molecule, is zero. This indicates that there is no real bonding interaction between the helium atoms in He2.