BONDING CAPACITY OF OXYGEN

Oxygen (sO) has six valence electrons. Two of them are unpaired and the others are paired when the atom is in its ground state. However, advanced studies have shown that all four valence orbitals of oxygen are identical so when oxygen reacts with another element it combines its one 2s and three 2p orbitals to form four identical sp3 orbitals. Two of the six valence electrons of oxygen take part in bond formation. 

As it was mentioned in the formation of the NH3 molecule, compounds prefer configurations in which the electron pairs are as far apart as possible. Therefore oxygen undergoes sp3 hybridization resulting in a tetrahedral shape. 

Oxygen forms two bonds by utilising its half filled sp3 hybrid orbitals when it forms the H20 molecule with hydrogen. 

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Now we have the compound H 0. By either representation, the bonding capacity of oxygen is expended when two bonds are formed. Oxygen is said to be divalent, and the compound H 0 is extremely stable. Each of the atoms in H 0 has filled its valence orbitals by electron sharing. 

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