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The purpose of drawing Lewis structures and structural formulas is to visually represent the arrangement of atoms and electrons in a molecule. This helps us understand the chemical bonding and overall structure of the molecule.
The number of valence electrons in an atom can be determined by looking at its group number on the periodic table. For main group elements, the number of valence electrons is equal to the group number. For transition metals, the number of valence electrons can vary.
The octet rule states that atoms tend to gain, lose, or share electrons in order to achieve a full outer shell of 8 electrons. This applies to drawing Lewis structures by helping us determine the number of bonds and lone pairs that an atom can have in order to fulfill the octet rule.
The steps for drawing a Lewis structure are:
Yes, some molecules can have more than one valid Lewis structure. This is known as resonance and occurs when the electrons can be delocalized among multiple atoms in different arrangements. These resonance structures contribute to the overall stability of the molecule.
