Delocalized Electrons

[505095793]

I don't understand how delocalized electrons work. How are the electrons distributed over several atoms?

[Mukil_Pari_2I]

Its a pretty general term actually. As far as I know, its just not associated with a single atom or a covalent bond.

[Laura Gong 3H]

Delocalized electrons are present when a molecule can do resonance, meaning the electrons are equally distributed across the bonds of a molecule even though the lewis drawing may indicate otherwise. (This is a limitation of drawing lewis structures.)

The electron distribution will be the same across the molecule when the electrons are delocalized.

[Yixiao Hu 3C]

delocalized electrons are electrons in a molecule, ion or solid metal that are not associated with a single atom or a covalent bond. The term is general and can have slightly different meanings in different fields. It's just a general term and I don't think it will be tested

[gwynlu1L]

you can think of it less as the electron being in 2 bonds at once, and more as the electrons having equal probability to be in a certain bond at a certain time. Don't focus much on the lewis structures for a visual sense, since that is the limitation of the drawings.

[Nicolette_Canlian_2L]

This will also relate to sigma and pi bonds, which we will learn about later. It will make more sense when applied to these concepts.