2B.18 c

[alice_2B]

The lewis structure of CO, and find the formal charge of each atom. The way I initially had found the lewis structure to be was C with one lone pair and a double bond with oxygen (FC(C) = 4-(2+2)=0) and oxygen with two lone pairs (FC(O)= 6-(4+2)=0). This appears to be optimal because both charges are 0. However, many resources write the answer like this: . Why is this the right answer?

[Wendy Phung]

Both of these Lewis structure models are correct because CO has multiple resonance structures. Since this molecule has resonance, both of these structures are possible, but the one with a triple bond is shown because it has a higher percent contribution to the structure than the other resonance structures.