Molecules With Polar Double Bonds

[Jason Nguyen_1B]

When answering a question on sapling, they stated that SO2 is a lewis acid. The answer they stated was that SO2 is a lewis acid because "molecules with polar double bonds also accept electrons." Can someone explain what this means and how it makes SO2 a lewis acid?

[Laura 3l]

I was having a hard time with the Lewis acids and bases too, can someone please explain the difference.

[Sandra Kim 2B]

i think when a molecule has polar double bonds, it has a higher polarizing power (the atom's ability to pull electrons to it) which makes it a Lewis acid (since it would take the electron pair). hope this helped a little :)

[Sandra Kim 2B]

I was having a hard time with the Lewis acids and bases too, can someone please explain the difference.

it helps to have a visual structure of the molecules/atoms so you can see whether there are any lone pair electrons that can be shared (Lewis base) or if it's deficient in electrons (Lewis Acid). sometimes, you could tell without the Lewis structure through its formal charge (like F- would have that new pair of electrons to share from the - charge) or through some of the exceptions Dr. Lavelle went over in the lecture (like BF3 has that boron that is electron-deficient and would love to accept a pair of e- to become more stable) but most of the time, the visual would help! hope this helped :)

[Laura 3l]

I was having a hard time with the Lewis acids and bases too, can someone please explain the difference.

it helps to have a visual structure of the molecules/atoms so you can see whether there are any lone pair electrons that can be shared (Lewis base) or if it's deficient in electrons (Lewis Acid). sometimes, you could tell without the Lewis structure through its formal charge (like F- would have that new pair of electrons to share from the - charge) or through some of the exceptions Dr. Lavelle went over in the lecture (like BF3 has that boron that is electron-deficient and would love to accept a pair of e- to become more stable) but most of the time, the visual would help! hope this helped :)

I appreciate the explanation! :)

[Andrew Yoon 3L]

SO2, is a nonmetal oxide, which makes it a lewis acid. In addition, the shape of the SO2 is bent and it is polar. This causes the oxygen to attract more electrons, making it a lewis acid.