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Electronic Structure (Worksheet)

  • Page ID
    3145
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    Name: ______________________________

    Section: _____________________________

    Student ID#:__________________________

    Work in groups on these problems. You should try to answer the questions without referring to your textbook. If you get stuck, try asking another group for help.

    1. Sum up the total number of valence electrons for the elements in the molecule. If the molecule is charged, subtract one electron for each positive charge or add one electron for each negative charge.
    2. Write the structure for the molecule with a pair of electrons (or a dash) between each atom.

    Groups of atoms will usually have the less electronegative atom surrounded by atoms having greater electronegativity. Never place a hydrogen atom in the center since it can only form one bond. Think about the valence of each atom and make sure that these valences are not exceeded except in the case of ions. Ions always have more or less bonds than the normal uncharged atom.

    The common valence or number of bonds formed for some common atoms are...

    • H = 1
    • O and S = 2
    • N = 3
    • C = 4
    • F, Cl, Br and I = 1

    Most atoms require eight electrons (the octet rule) so they will resemble an inert gas. Elements in groups IA to IIIA do not follow the octet rule and have less than eight electrons in the final formula.

    1. Place electrons around the outer atoms to fill their outer shells.
    2. Subtract the number of electrons used so far from the total calculated in step 1 and place these remaining electrons on the central atom or atoms.
    3. If the central atom ends up with less than 8 electrons, then it probably forms a multiple bond with an adjacent outer atom.
    4. Finally you should calculate the formal charge on the atoms.

    This page titled Electronic Structure (Worksheet) is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Mark Draganjac via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.