Bond lengths

[Lusin_Yengibaryan_3B]

When drawing lewis structures, do we have to draw the double bond shorter than the single bonds? If so, why is this the case?

[Claire_Latendresse_1E]

Hi!

You don't have to draw the double bonds shorter because Lewis structures aren't that particular. Knowing that double bonds and triple bonds are shorter is the important part :)

[Ashley Kim 3H]

Hi, I don't think we actually have to draw the double bonds shorter than single bonds for accuracy. I think we should just be able to know that single bonds are longer than double bonds, which are longer than triple bonds.

[Kristina Krivenko 3I]

We don't have to draw double / triple bonds shorter than single bonds when drawing Lewis structures. Lewis structures are just a way to represent what molecule structure looks like, so they don't have to drawn to scale. Just know that the bond length decreases as the number of bonds increases :)

[Colin Squire 3B]

Hello! I think its implied that we already know that double bonds are shorter than single bonds, so I don't think we will need to draw them out shorter. The Lewis structure is a representation of what it would simply look like!

[Navdha Sharma 3J]

I don't think that we actually have to draw the double bonds shorter. Knowing that double bonds are shorter is enough!

[Crystal Pan 2G]

We don't have to draw them to be longer vs shorter, but we should know double bonds are shorter and single bonds are longer.

[VincentLe_3A]

I believe it is just conceptually important to understand that double bonds are shorter than single bonds, but we do not have to visually show it on the Lewis structures because the main focus of the Lewis structures is the valence electrons and the relationship of the valence electrons between different elements within a molecule.

[DominicMalilay 1F]

No, you don't need to draw the bonds shorter or longer!

[Shruti Kulkarni 2I]

Hi! I'm pretty sure that the length of the bonds in your Lewis Structures don't matter as long as you conceptually understand that double and triple bonds are shorter and the reasoning behind this.

[Emma Strassner 1J]

Hi, the drawings themselves are not very particular about the lengths of the bonds. You can draw them the same and it'll be fine, just remember that they are shorter in reality even though it is not needed in the drawing.

[AndrewNguyen_2H]

No, Lewis structures are a simplified model. There's no need to show a shorter line.

[George_Yin_3I]

No, you do not need to do that. Lewis structure is basically a demonstration of bond types, so there is no need to represent the bond lengths.

[George_Yin_3I]

No, you do not need to do that. Lewis structure is basically a demonstration of bond types, so there is no need to represent the bond lengths.

[Emma Chang 1G]

I don't think we have to draw double bonds shorter than single bonds since Lewis structures are simplified models. I think it's fine to draw them with the same lengths as long as we understand conceptually that double bonds are shorter than single bonds!

[Mackenzie Stockton 2H]

I don't think that you have to do that, at least for this class! However, I know that a double bond is stronger than a single bond, so that may be why you draw the double bonds as shorter in some cases.

[Will Skinner]

No. I do not think Lewis structures are meant to be that precise.

[Claudia_Danysh_2B]

Hi! No you don't because the way you can denote a double bond is by drawing two shared bond lines instead of one!

[MMorcus2E]

No because the point of Lewis Structure is to show where electrons are and if they are shared with other atoms. In the Lewis structure, double and triple bonds are indicated by having two or three pairs of electrons between the 2 different atoms. So showing bond length is not necessary.

[Zach Richardson 2f]

No it is not necessary because Lewis structures are simplified models and do not actually represent the molecule in physical space.

[Lily Mohtashami]

No you don't! However knowing the bond length will be important when finding the dipole moment so it is definitely good to know!