General Chemistry I
VALENCE ELECTRONS AND
LEWIS ELECTRON DOT STRUCTURE
Lewis Dot
Structures
Lewis Electron
Dot Structure
are diagrams/illustrations
describing the chemical
bonding among atoms in
a molecule.
Gilbert N. Lewis
He proposed the Lewis Theory
of bonding which explains
that noble gases are stable
because they completely fill
the outermost shells with eight
electrons. This theory
emphasized the role of
valence electrons in
chemical bonding.
OCTET RULE
-states that when atoms of
elements combine to form
compounds, they tend to lose,
gain, or share electrons to
achieve the same electron
arrangement as the noble gas
nearest them in the periodic
table.
Exemptions There are elements that
to the do not obey the octet
Octet Rule rule just like in the case
of hydrogen, helium,
lithium, boron and
aluminum. These
elements are exempted
to the octet rule.
Valence electrons
Valence electrons
are the electrons in
the outermost shell,
or energy level, of an
atom.
Valence electrons
No. of valence electrons
is the total exponents of
the terms with the
highest principal
quantum number in the
electron configuration
ACTIVITY: LOOK ON THE TABLE
Practice doing the valence
electrons of the first 10
elements.
How to Write
the Lewis
Electron Dot
Structure
(LEDS)?
Writing LEDS
In writing the LEDS dots are arranged to
the right and left, above and below the
symbol with no more than two dots on a
side. It does not matter where the dots
are positioned around the symbol. For
example, the LDS of hydrogen atom is
illustrated below. It has only one dot since
hydrogen has only one valence electron
Some
examples of
Lewis
Electron Dot
Structures
Try drawing the Lewis Structure of:
1. Gallium
2. Selenium
Determine the number of valence electrons and draw
the Lewis Electron Dot Structure of the following
elements.
11 17 12 35 16
Na Cl Mg Br S
Sodiu Chlorine Magnesiu Bromine Sulfur
m m
LDS practice with single
element
Na
11
Na
Sodiu
Sodium is in Group I, so it
m has 1 valance electron.
LDS practice with single
element
Cl
17
Cl
Chlorine
Chlorine is in Group VII, so
it has 7 valance
electrons.
LDS practice with single
element
Mg
12
Mg
Magnesiu
Magnesium is in Group II,
m so it has 2 valance
electrons.
LDS practice with single
element
Br
35
Br
Bromine
Bromine is in Group VII, so
it has 7 valance
electrons.
LDS practice with single
element
S
16
S
Sulfur
Sulfur is in Group VI, so it
has 6 valance electrons.
Lewis Structure
of Ionic
Compounds
Lewis Structure of Ionic
Compounds
Ionic compounds – compounds
consisting of a metal and a non-
metal atom.
Ionic compounds form due to
transfer of electrons.
Lewis Structure of Ionic
Compounds
Ions are species which carry a positive or negative charge. A
positively charged atom or a positive ion is called cation while
a negatively charged atom or a negative ion is called anion.
The atom with a lower electronegativity value, transfers its
electron to the atom with a higher electronegativity value.
Metals have lower electronegativity values than non-metals.
So, the electron transfer is from METAL TO NON-METAL.
Example 1: NaCl (Sodium Chloride)
Example 2: Na2O (Sodium Oxide)
Na2O
Example 3: K2S (Potassium Sulfide)
Example 4: CaCl2 (Calcium
Chloride)
CaCl2
Example 4: Mg3N2 (Magnesium
Nitride)
Lewis Structure
of Covalent
Compounds
Lewis Structure of Covalent
Compounds
Covalent compounds – compounds
consisting of a nonmetal and a non-
metal atom.
Covalent compounds form due to
sharing of electrons.
Lewis Structure of Covalent
Compounds
The shared electron pair is called a
bonding pair
The unshared electron pair is called
lone pair
Covalent bonds are represented by dashes
between the atoms.
A single dash represents an electron pair
being shared.
Two pairs of electrons shared are represented
by two dashes, while three dashes mean
three pairs of electrons are shared by two
atoms.
The electrons are attracted to the nuclei of
both the atom keeping the atoms together to
form a molecule.
H-H
The two electrons are shared equally
between the two atoms depicted
by the single line, H - H.
Bond pair/s – 1
Lone pair/s – 0
F2
There are eight electrons fulfilling the octet rule. By
sharing the electrons
each fluorine atom fulfills the octet rule.
BOND PAIR – 1
LONE PAIR - 6
CH4
Bond pair – 4
Lone pair - 0
H2O
Bond pair – 2
Lone pair - 2
NH3
Bond pair – 3
Lone pair - 1
Covalent (Molecular) Bonds
A single bond (-) is formed when one pair of electrons are
shared between two atoms.
Double bond (=) is formed when two pairs of electrons are
shared between two atoms.
While triple bond (≡) is formed when three pairs of electrons
are shared between two atoms. In covalent bond, the more
shared electron the stronger the bond is. Thus, triple bond >
double bond> single bond. In this case, molecules that are
held by triple bonds are more stable and they require more
energy to break their bonds.
Lewis Structure
of Covalent
Compounds
1. Identify
the central atom (atom with the highest
covalency number).
2. Bond the other atoms to the central atom by a
single bond.
3. Distribute
the remaining valence electrons to the
attached atoms first and then to the central atom
last.
4 Check if the octet rule is followed by each atom.
5. If there is a deficiency in the octet rule, form a
multiple bond.
Covalency
Number
Covalency number
- number of
covalent bonds an
atom can form
Covalency number
doesn’t mean
number of valence
electrons.
NCl3
1. Determine the central atom. In
determining the central atom, you have to
identify which element has the highest
covalency number.
Covalency number of N = 3
Covalency number of Cl = 1
NCl3
2. Bond the other atoms to the
central atom by a single bond. Take
into account the number of electrons
used in bonding. If you count all the
valence electrons used in the
bonding, it has a total of 26 valence
electrons. All of the elements satisfy
the octet rule thus, the above
structure is the most acceptable
structure for NCl3.
HCN
1. Identify the central atom
Covalency number of H = 1
Covalency number of C = 4
Covalency number of N = 3
Based on the information above, since carbon has the highest
covalency number, it is therefore the central atom in the
structure.
2. Bond the other atoms to the central atom by a single bond.
HCN
Draw the Lewis Structure of the
following compounds and find the
number of bond and lone pairs in the
following molecules
1. CS2
2. SiF4
3. O2
4. N2
5. CHCl3
