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Shapes of molecules
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 9:53 am
by Sanjana Munagala_1j
So when we were drawing the Lewis structure for methane (CH4) in lecture, we drew the structure with carbon in the middle and the 4 hydrogens equally spread around the carbon. However since carbon has two valence electrons that are paired, does this not make a difference on the structure of the molecule? Please let me know.
Thanks!
Re: Shapes of molecules
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 11:28 am
by SGonzales_3L
I'm not sure what you mean by carbon having 2 valence electrons paired as all of its 4 valence electrons are bonded with hydrogen atoms. In general, though, the presence of lone pairs in a Lewis atomic structure can cause electron-electron repulsions which increase the angle between atoms, thus affecting the shape of the molecule.
Re: Shapes of molecules
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 11:32 am
by Kyla Grunden 1L
Carbon does not have any unpaired valence electrons: it has 4 single bonds with hydrogen atoms, so the hydrogen atoms are spread out equally in the lewis structure.