The bond order of a molecule can be determined by the number of bonding electrons minus the number of antibonding electrons, divided by 2. For carbon monoxide CO , the electronic configuration is:C: 1s 2s 2pO: 1s 2s 2pWhen these two atoms form a bond, their atomic orbitals overlap to create molecular orbitals. In the case of CO, the molecular orbitals can be represented as follows: 1s , * 1s , 2s , * 2s , 2p , 2p Now, let's calculate the bond order:Bond order = Number of bonding electrons - Number of antibonding electrons / 2Bond order = 10 - 4 / 2Bond order = 6 / 2Bond order = 3The bond order of CO is 3, which indicates a triple bond between the carbon and oxygen atoms.As for the bond length, it is inversely proportional to the bond order. In general, a higher bond order results in a shorter bond length. The experimental bond length of CO is approximately 1.128 angstroms .