The bond having the minimum bond energy is : — Chemical Bonding Chemistry Question

💡 Solution & Explanation

Step 1: Compare single bond energies across different groups and periods. Generally, bond strength decreases down a group due to increasing atomic size and longer bond lengths. Step 2: However, an anomaly occurs in the second period for O-O and N-N single bonds because of their compact size and high lone-pair density. Step 3: The extreme lone-pair repulsions in the short O-O single bond make its bond energy (~146 kJ/mol) exceptionally low—lower than even S-S (~266 kJ/mol) and P-P (~201 kJ/mol) bonds, making option (b) correct.