How to Calculate Bond Order? The bond order is a concept that chemists learn almost intuitively. It's a number that determines the kind of covalent bonds in a molecule. A single covalent bond has a bond order of one; a double bond, two; a triple bond - three. The number of chemical bonds between two atoms in a molecule is called the bond order.

The number of bonds between atoms in a molecule is determined by its Bond Order. This number is found by dividing the number of electron pairs in the bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals. The Lewis dot structure allows a simple arithmetic calculation to determine the bond order. It is also related to the bond energy and bond length.