lowest energy & most stable Lewis structures
Moderators: Chem_Mod, Chem_Admin
-
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:04 am
lowest energy & most stable Lewis structures
what determines the lowest energy of a Lewis structure? What does it mean when it asks to draw the most stable lewis structure? Does the amount of bonds or lone pairs present in a lewis structure determine the energy or stability?
-
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:04 am
Re: lowest energy & most stable Lewis structures
By calculating the formal charges (using FC = VE - NBE - 1/2BE) for each element we can then see how close the formal charges are to zero. The closer to zero, the more probable the structure. This would be the structure with the lowest energy.
the textbook also say: the formal charge on an atom in a given Lewis structure—the charge it would have if the bonding were perfectly covalent
hope this answers your questions :)
the textbook also say: the formal charge on an atom in a given Lewis structure—the charge it would have if the bonding were perfectly covalent
hope this answers your questions :)
-
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:02 am
Re: lowest energy & most stable Lewis structures
To choose the most stable Lewis structure with the lowest energy, calculate the formal charges for all the atoms and choose the molecule that has all of them closest to zero. This ties into resonance structures - for example, if you have charges on one form of -2, +1, -1 and on another form 0,+1,0, the second form would be the most stable and the lowest energy.
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:03 am
Re: lowest energy & most stable Lewis structures
you would have to calculate the formal charge by the equation:
formal charge = number of valence - lone electrons - (shared electrons/2)
formal charge = number of valence - lone electrons - (shared electrons/2)
-
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:03 am
Re: lowest energy & most stable Lewis structures
one can also calculate the formal charge by:
Formal charge = Valence electrons - # of electrons directly relating to element
Formal charge = Valence electrons - # of electrons directly relating to element
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest