Central atom

[606199591]

If there are two similar, lone atoms in a compound, how do we know which to use as the central atom in a Lewis Structure?

[Sarah Nguyen 1K]

Hi, to determine which atom is central in a Lewis Structure, we look at their ionization energies, no matter how similar. Whichever lone atom has a lower ionization energy goes in the middle of the structure, and the trend of ionization energies is that it decreases going down the periodic table and increases going across the periodic table. Hope this helped!