Central Atom

[thanh24mai]

How do you know which to use as the central atom?

[Charisse Vu 1H]

The atom with the lowest ionization energy is commonly used as the central atom when drawing lewis structures! Dr. Lavelle talked about this briefly in lecture :)

[Mansi_1D]

The atom that is more electronegative is in the middle because it's pulling more electrons to itself.

[rohun2H]

Typically you choose the atom with the lowest ionization energy as the central atom.

[Elizabeth Harty 1A]

Also if you have something which has one of one species and 4 of another it is almost always the with which is less frequent (if you think about number of bonds and octet rule).

[Michael Nguyen 1E]

The central atom of a molecule is usually an atom of the element with the lowest ionization energy.

[Jared_Yuge]

The atom with lowest ionization energy because they pull other atoms toward it with its electrons that it shares

[Amanda Mei 1B]

It's usually the atom that creates the most bonds (has fewest valence electrons).

[Qilan Li 4I]

The atom with the lowest ionization energy is usually the central atom because it is able to create the most bonds. You can also look for the atom with the lowest electron affinity since they share the same trend.

[Lauren Stack 1C]

Typically the atom with the lowest electronegativity is the central atom. The only exception to the rule is Hydrogen.

[J Medina 2I]

Atom ionization energy levels generally follow a trend of decreasing as you move left across and down the periodic table.

[Abigail_Hagen2G]

Just put the ones that are more left and more down as the central atom, as they have lower ionization energies.

[Ethan Low 1L]

The element with the lowest ionization energy is normally used as the central atom

[Jacob Motawakel]

The central atom is the atom with the lowest ionization energy.