resonance structures

[Agustina Santa Cruz 2F]

How do you know which resonance structure contributes most heavily to the true structure of the molecule?

[Jasmine Ho 3I]

The ones that contribute the most are the ones that have formal charges closer to zero for all of the atoms in the molecule because neutral atoms require the least energy and therefore are more stable.

[Victoria_Sauceda_1B]

It’ll be the one with the charges closest to zero

[Hailey Qasawadish 2J]

The resonance structure that contributes most is the one with the formal charges closest to 0. The sum of the formal charges should give you the overall charge of the structure.

[Jonathan Malau 1F]

The structure with the least number of formal charges is more stable. Also, the most stable resonance structure will have negative charges on the most electronegative atoms and positive charges on the least electronegative atoms (of course, the most stable resonance structure will have a full octet on every atom).

[nayha a 1E]

That would be the resonance structure with the charge closest to zero. This is because a 0 charge is the most stable structure.

[emmaferry2D]

I beileive that it will be the resonance structure thats formal charge is closest to 0. (you can find formal charge of an atom by subtracting the total # of shared electrons/2 + # of lone electrons from the # of valence electrons the atom holds

[joshtully]

The resonance structure with charges closest to zero will contribute the most.

[Lauren Strickland 1B]

I think that would be the resonance structure with the charge closest to zero as it would be the most stable.

[Caelin Brenninkmeijer 1G]

It would be the structure with the charge closest to zero. This is because it's the closest to an octet, which is the most stable structure.

[Zach Richardson 2f]

Everyone is saying that it would be the one with formal charges closest to 0, but as we see in sapling #4 this is just a guideline! The only real way (that we know of so far) is to observe the bond lengths experimentally.