The interaction between atomic orbitals is greatest when they have the same what?
fuel
temperature
mass
energy
The number of molecular orbitals produced is the same as the number of atomic orbitals used to create them (the law of conservation of orbitals). As the overlap between two atomic orbitals increases, the difference in energy between the resulting bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals increases. When two atomic orbitals combine to form a pair of molecular orbitals, the bonding molecular orbital is stabilized about as much as the antibonding molecular orbital is destabilized. The interaction between atomic orbitals is greatest when they have the same energy.