The bond order of a carbon monoxide CO molecule can be determined using molecular orbital theory. Molecular orbital theory is a method for describing the electronic structure of molecules using quantum mechanics. It considers the combination of atomic orbitals to form molecular orbitals, which are then filled with electrons according to the Aufbau principle and Hund's rule.To determine the bond order of CO, we first need to examine the electronic configuration of carbon C and oxygen O atoms. Carbon has 6 electrons 1s 2s 2p and oxygen has 8 electrons 1s 2s 2p . When these two atoms combine to form a CO molecule, their atomic orbitals overlap and create molecular orbitals.The molecular orbitals formed are as follows:1. 1s and * 1s - formed by the overlap of 1s orbitals of C and O2. 2s and * 2s - formed by the overlap of 2s orbitals of C and O3. 2p , 2p , * 2p , and * 2p - formed by the overlap of 2p orbitals of C and ONow, we fill these molecular orbitals with the 14 electrons from the C and O atoms, following the Aufbau principle and Hund's rule:1. 1s - 2 electrons2. * 1s - 2 electrons3. 2s - 2 electrons4. * 2s - 2 electrons5. 2p - 2 electrons6. 2p - 4 electrons 2 in each degenerate orbital The bond order can be calculated using the formula:Bond order = number of electrons in bonding orbitals - number of electrons in antibonding orbitals / 2In the case of CO:Bond order = 2 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 2 / 2 = 8 - 4 / 2 = 4 / 2 = 2Therefore, the bond order of a carbon monoxide CO molecule is 2, which indicates a double bond between the carbon and oxygen atoms.