I was just wondering why lone pairs of electrons are more repulsive than bonded pairs of electrons.
I have read that lone pairs have orbitals which are shorter and more round, compared to bonded pairs. I assume, therefore, that this difference in repulsive force could be due to the increased surface area that these orbitals provide, which would cause more repulsive force to be directed towards electrons.
Of course this is just a presumption that I made, which is probably incorrect.