Answer: B) 2 Explanation: The number of bonds between a pair of atoms is called the bond order. Bond orders can be calculated from Lewis structures, which are the heart of the valence-bond model. Oxygen, for example, has a bond order of two. When there is more than one Lewis structure for a molecule, the bond order is an average of these structures. The bond order in sulfur dioxide, for example, is 1.5  the average of an S-O single bond in one Lewis structure and an S=O double bond in the other. In molecular orbital theory, we calculate bond orders by assuming that two electrons in a bonding molecular orbital contribute one net bond and that two electrons in an antibonding molecular orbital cancel the effect of one bond. We can calculate the bond order in the O2 molecule by noting that there are eight valence electrons in bonding molecular orbitals and four valence electrons in antibonding molecular orbitals in the electron configuration of this molecule. Thus, the bond order is two.