Difference between Resonance and Lewis structures

[vanessas0123]

What is the difference between resonance and lewis structures? When would you need to draw resonance structures?

[Jarrett Peyrefitte 2K]

Resonance is when some lewis structures have multiple bonds in different places of the structure. For example, for the lewis structure for (CO3)2- , the double bond can moved to any of the oxygen atoms.

[karinaseth_1A]

A resonance is a type of Lewis structure in which a double bond can be moved around. In benzene, for example, there are two possible resonance structures because the three double bonds can be between different carbon atoms; the electrons are delocalized, meaning they are not attached to just one pair of atoms. Rather, they are distributed over several atoms, creating a resonance hybrid. You need to draw resonance structures when you have a molecule with double bonds that can be moved around.

[Camellia Liu 1J]

I'm not sure if resonance structures are limited to just double bonds--but I think that they are the most popular. Resonance is possible whenever a Lewis structure has a multiple bond and the other atom has at least one lone pair.

Resonance structures have the same number of electrons and the same amount of lone pairs. The skeletal structure also remains the same. The difference is in the number of bonds and the number of lone pairs depicted in the structure.

[LNgo 1G]

Resonance occurs when the Lewis structure of a molecule has double or triple bonds that can be applied amongst different atoms, yielding multiple different forms.

[Micah3J]

How can you tell when there is resonance and if the middle element should just be left without a full octet?