1. Names of Member(s): Mr Sherman Ho 2.

. Former Situation: Currently, VSEPR is presented to students with stick-like objects such as straws and/or sticks, or the use of rigid molecular models with predefined angles that allow little manipulation to illustrate the repulsion between electron pairs. As such, students have poor understanding of why lone pair-lone pair repulsions are stronger than bon pair-lone pair and bond pair-bond pair repulsions. Using balloons proved to be too cumbersome too. 3. Improved Situation: Present to students why a lone pair-lone pair repulsion is stronger than bond pairbond pair repulsion using pipette fillers. Pipette fillers have a general shape as shown below

The spherical part of the pipette fillers will denote the space in a bond where the electron density is highest. The straight part will serve to represent half the bond length originating from the central atom, assuming the bond is non-polar. 4. Short Description of work done during implementation of innovation: For simplicity, three pipette fillers are sufficient. As the chemistry laboratories have an abundance of pipette fillers, students can group up in threes and using their pipette fillers, follow the tutor's example on the visualiser. When there are three electron pairs, the general shape is a 120 trigonal planar shape. If all 3 are bond pairs the arrangement is as follows, with the point where they meet being the central atom.

Here, explain to students that electron pairs will take up positions which allow them to be as far from other pairs as possible. Next, ask students to measure the straight line distance between the "bond pairs" themselves using a ruler, as shown by the double headed arrow.

When students have finished their measurements, ask them to invert one of the pipette fillers, explaining that a lone pair is held closer to the nucleus of the central atom than a bond pair.

As with before, request them to measure the straight line distance between a "lone pair" and a "bond pair" as shown by the double headed arrow. They should realise that the distance is now shorter, which means that there is greater repulsion between the two pairs. This illustrates how a lone pair-bond pair repulsion is greater than a bond pair-bond pair repulsion. Next, explain that, to minimise this repulsion, the three pairs will rearrange such that the straight line distance between adjacent electron pairs is nearly the same. Ask them to arrange as such.

With the above arrangement, they will be able to realise that the angle between the bond pairs has decreased. 5. Benefits (tangible or intangible; Annual cost-savings, if any): - Students have a quantitative feel on the repulsion between electron pairs, which will reinforce qualitative explanations of how lone pairs cause greater repulsion and why the bond angle decreases when there are lone pairs. - As pipette fillers are in great abundance in the labs, they are readily available at no cost.

6. Suggestion for further follow-up (if any): - The same idea can be used to explain the difference in bond angle in NH3 and NF3 As the N-H bond is shorter than N-F and N being of higher EN than H, the bonding electrons in a N-H bond are closer to N, which is the central atom. In a N-F bond the bonding electrons are closer to F. Using two N-X bonds as example, The students will be able to see then, how the angle in NH3 is larger than NF3 - As pipette fillers N are small enough, teachers can also use them to show molecular N shapes, even up to octahedral. The spheres will clearly show the bonding electrons, and lone pairs can be represented by inverting the pipette fillers.

HN

HN