Why is benzene more stable than expected?

All the carbons in benzene are sp2 hybridised. The carbons are each bonded to one hydrogen and all bonds to other carbon atoms in the ring are the same length. This bond is in between the bond length of a C=C and C-C bond. This is because there is a system of p orbitals that can overlap to form a delocalised system of electrons above and below the plane of carbon atoms. This system leads to the benzene ring being more stable than expected.

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Thinking about the periodicity of the period 3 elements, explain the structure of the Sodium and Phosphorus Oxides and the acid-base behaviour of the Oxide solutions.


A buffer solution is made with a pH of 5.000. Solid sodium ethanoate, CH3COONa, is added to 400 cm^3 of 0.200 mol dm^–3 ethanoic acid (Ka = 1.75 × 10^–5 mol dm^–3). Calculate the mass of sodium acetate that must be dissolved in the acid to prepare this


The equation for the reaction between ammonia and oxygen is shown. 4NH3(g) + 5O2(g) ⇌ 4NO(g) + 6H2O(g) . Calculate the entropy change of the reaction, using data from the table below.


Calculate the mass of sodium amide needed to obtain 550 g of sodium azide, assuming there is a 95.0% yield of sodium azide. Give your answer to 3 significant figures.