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My book has two confusing statements about bond energy:

The most stable bond is the bond with the highest bond energy.

A system with low energy is a stable system. Thus, a bond is formed when electron energy level is the lowest.

So, does high energy means more stability or less stability?

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  • $\begingroup$ Bond energy is shows how much lower is energy of the compound. $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Apr 7, 2018 at 14:44
  • $\begingroup$ “Bond energy” is the same as bond dissociation energy — the amount of energy to break the bond. So, if adding all the 'bond energies' of a molecule gives the highest number, it requires the most energy to break, and therefore is the most stable. $\endgroup$ Jun 1, 2022 at 22:09

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Look at it in this way. Consider the energy to break a bond to be arbitrarily assumed to be at $\pu{0 J/mol}$. Now, there are two bonds, $\ce{A-B}$ and $\ce{C-D}$. Let's say they have energies of $\pu{-242 kJ/mol}$ and $\pu{-378 kJ/mol}$. Clearly, the $\ce{C-D}$ bond has the lower energy.

Now, you can say that a stronger bond needs more energy to break it. So, this means that you need to supply $\pu{242 kJ/mol}$ of energy to break $\ce{A-B}$ and $\pu{378 kJ/mol}$ of energy to break $\ce{C-D}$. You can definitely see that $\ce{C-D}$ needs more energy to break it, and to bring the energy to $\pu{ 0 J/mol}$.

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