Radicals

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How do you know if species are radicals?

[Anish Patel 4B]

These are atoms that have at least one unpaired electron which can be identified by drawing their lewis structure or writing their electron configuration.

[Amy Pham 1D]

If the ion has an odd total number of valence electrons, then at least one of them must be unpaired and the species is thus a radical.

[Joanne Lee 1J]

In order to identify if a species is a radical, just count the total number of valence electrons in that molecule and if it is an odd number, it is a radical.

[KnarGeghamyan1B]

An example of a radical would be CH3 which we did in class. C has 4 valence electrons and each of the 3 hydrogens have 1, giving the molecule a total of 7 valence electrons. This makes the molecule highly radioactive and it only exists for a short time because it will try to bond with another CH3 molecule so the unpaired electron on each carbon can have a shared electron to fill the shell.

[Robert Tran 1B]

To identify a radical, you usually have to look at the molecule's lewis structure and determine if there is an unpaired electron. If so, the molecule would be a radical.

[Angela Patel 2J]

Why do radicals exist?

[Joseph Saba]

Why do radicals exist?

They exist because usually, when a compound like ethane, C2H6 has split apart, both the resulting products have a radical simply based on the number of electrons in the whole molecule. Radicals exist only for a short amount of time and are highly reactive

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atoms with an unpaired electron are radicals

[Anvi Brahmbhatt 4A]

A radical is a species with an unpaired electron. You can identify radicals by counting the number of valence electrons and getting an odd number, or by drawing the Lewis structure and seeing the unpaired electron.