Jump to content

Linear molecular geometry

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carbon dioxide has linear molecular geometry.

Linear molecular geometry is a type of molecular geometry. An atom has linear geometry when it has chemical bonds to two other atoms on opposite sides.

This normally happens when the central atom has no lone pairs, but is also found in hypervalent molecules where the central atom has three lone pairs. In this case, it is a special case of trigonal bipyramidal molecular geometry where the lone pairs make up the "base" of the pyramid.