Where to Place Electrons

[Nick Smith 2H]

When drawing Lewis structures for an element, is there a specific order that we place the electrons in their valence shell. For example, do we start at the top and move clockwise, adding one dot for an electron is this order? Also, are we able to manipulate the position of the dots when illustrating a bond between two atoms?

[Kaitlyn_Urquilla_1I]

Hi! I don't think that we need to start at a specific location but we do add one electron to each side first before adding the second to each side. I think that the way that you draw the dots depends on where you are drawing the bond, so yes, I think that you can decide where you want the dots to go when showing a bond between two atoms.

[LouiseLin2L]

You can draw the electrons wherever you like as long, to the convenience of demonstrating bonds if there are any, as long as you can make the pair-wise electron grouping obvious enough.

[Thailer Phorn 1C]

There is no specific order that you have to follow when doing Lewis structures.

[105778693]

There's no concrete order to follow, but usually you would have two dots on one side before moving onto the next side.

[14b_student 2E]

You do not have to follow a specific order but generally you put two dots on one side before moving to the next.

[Tess_Fleser_1D]

For unbonded atoms, just make sure you have the correct number of paired and unpaired electrons, and for bonded atoms the correct number of bond lines (shared electrons) and unshared electrons. In high school I was taught to place the electrons in a clockwise order (for the first and second time around), but I don't think it really matters. Especially for bonded electrons, because you need to move them around to show the bond.

[Alice Guey 1B]

When it comes to drawing the Lewis structures of atoms, it does not really matter where electrons are placed. Just make sure that all sides have one electron before adding a second, if applicable. Later, when we learn about resonance structures of molecules, where the bonds are placed will matter.

[Jessica Arcos 2H]

There's not a specific order when placing electrons on Lewis structures, I think you just have to have at least one electron on each side before adding the second one.

[bree_wray_14a]

Hi, I do not believe that there is a specific required way you must draw in the dots (electrons)

[Hannah Carsey 1B]

Hi, in terms of placing electrons on Lewis Structures, it is pretty much up to you to decide where to put lone electrons, however when pairing electrons in single, double, and triple bonds it is important to orient these bonds in terms of the correct atoms the bonds are between. It is also important to make sure that, in general, every atom has an octet.

[Jordyn Lee 1J]

Hi, it does not matter the order in which you draw the dots, only that each side should have one dot before you add a second.

[Allison Peng 1D]

There was actually a rule with single atoms in which you place electrons 1 at a time in unoccopied orbitals starting from the top left and moving clockwise along the 4 sides of the atom, and once they are all filled with 1 electron, then add the second electrons to the orbitals in the same order (let me link a picture: https://tinyurl.com/h5a425ct). It basically is arbitrary though, I know people who were taught to start from the right side as opposed to the top.

However, when you place electrons in bonds, etc, usually we just put the lone pairs where they would be placed apart due to lone pair repulsion as opposed to a specific order.