{"id":198549,"date":"2025-03-10T06:47:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T06:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=198549"},"modified":"2025-03-10T06:47:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T06:47:08","slug":"sulfuric-acid-h2so4-is-a-common-laboratory-chemical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/10\/sulfuric-acid-h2so4-is-a-common-laboratory-chemical\/","title":{"rendered":"Sulfuric acid, H2SO4, is a common laboratory chemical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sulfuric acid, H2SO4, is a common laboratory chemical. Draw the Lewis structure of H, SO, with minimized formal charges. Include lone pairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the Lewis structure of sulfuric acid (H\u2082SO\u2084), along with an explanation of how it is determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Count Valence Electrons<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Hydrogen (H) has 1<\/strong> valence electron (2 atoms \u00d7 1 = 2 e\u207b).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sulfur (S) has 6<\/strong> valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Oxygen (O) has 6<\/strong> valence electrons (4 atoms \u00d7 6 = 24 e\u207b).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Total valence electrons<\/strong> = 2 + 6 + 24 = 32 electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Step 2: Identify the Central Atom<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Sulfur is less electronegative than oxygen, so it is the central atom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Step 3: Connect Atoms with Single Bonds<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Attach the four oxygen atoms to sulfur using single bonds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Attach two hydrogen atoms to two oxygen atoms (these will be the -OH groups).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Step 4: Distribute Lone Pairs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Each oxygen must have 8 electrons<\/strong> around it (including bonding pairs).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The two oxygen atoms bonded to hydrogen (OH groups) will have two lone pairs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The two oxygen atoms not bonded to hydrogen will form double bonds<\/strong> with sulfur to minimize formal charges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Sulfur expands its octet (as it is in Period 3) and has no lone pairs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Step 5: Formal Charge Calculation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          Formal charge formula: Formal Charge=Valence Electrons\u2212(Lone Pair Electrons + \u00bd Bonding Electrons)\\text{Formal Charge} = \\text{Valence Electrons} – \\text{(Lone Pair Electrons + \u00bd Bonding Electrons)}<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Sulfur: 0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Oxygen in OH groups: 0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Double-bonded oxygens: 0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            This structure ensures minimal formal charges, making it the most stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n\n\n\n
            \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            Here is the Lewis structure of sulfuric acid (H\u2082SO\u2084) with minimized formal charges. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Sulfuric acid, H2SO4, is a common laboratory chemical. Draw the Lewis structure of H, SO, with minimized formal charges. Include lone pairs. The correct answer and explanation is : Here is the Lewis structure of sulfuric acid (H\u2082SO\u2084), along with an explanation of how it is determined. Step 1: Count Valence Electrons Step 2: Identify […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}