CH2Cl2 structure

[Jessica Booth 2F]

How do you determine that in the lewis structure of CH2Cl2 the Cl's are next to each other and the H's are next to each other instead of the Cl's and H's being across from each other?

[lilymayek_1E]

when writing out the lewis structure, the order of molecules in this structure doesn't really matter (as long as carbon is central).

The reason why the H's and Cl's are with their respective twin in a lot of diagrams rather than across has to do with dipoles and electric charge on each individual atom - CH2Cl2 is a polar molecule which means there's an imbalance between positive/negative charge in the molecule, which affects shape and how positive/negative atoms are repelled or attracted to each other. we'll probably learn more about this as time goes on, so unless they ask for a lewis structure that takes into account of dipoles/etc, I wouldn't worry!