{"id":223346,"date":"2025-06-01T13:23:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T13:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=223346"},"modified":"2025-06-01T13:23:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T13:23:56","slug":"in-the-pof3-molecule-the-p-atom-is-the-central-atom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/01\/in-the-pof3-molecule-the-p-atom-is-the-central-atom\/","title":{"rendered":"In the POF3\u00a0molecule, the P atom is the central atom."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the POF<br>molecule, the P atom is the central atom. a Draw a Lewis diagram for POF<br>in which all atoms have a formal charge of zero. b Draw a Lewis structure for POF<br>in which the octet rule is satisfied on all atoms and show all NONZERO formal charges on all atoms. c Based on formal charge, which is the best Lewis structure for the molecule?<br>In the POF<br>molecule, the P atom is the central atom. a Draw a Lewis diagram for POF<br>in which all atoms have a formal charge of zero. b Draw a Lewis structure for POF<br>in which the octet rule is satisfied on all atoms and show all NONZERO formal charges on all atoms. c Based on formal charge, which is the best Lewis structure for the molecule?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-0-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lewis Structure of POF (Phosphoryl Fluoride)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The molecule <strong>POF<\/strong> (phosphoryl fluoride) consists of phosphorus (P), oxygen (O), and fluorine (F), with <strong>phosphorus as the central atom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">a. <strong>Lewis diagram with formal charges of zero on all atoms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To achieve <strong>zero formal charges<\/strong>, phosphorus forms a <strong>double bond with oxygen<\/strong> and a <strong>single bond with fluorine<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>   ..\nO=P\u2014F\n   ..\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Oxygen<\/strong> has 2 lone pairs and is double bonded to P.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fluorine<\/strong> has 3 lone pairs and is single bonded to P.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phosphorus<\/strong> uses <strong>10 valence electrons<\/strong> (an expanded octet is allowed for P).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Formal charge calculation<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>O: 6 valence \u2212 (4 non-bonding + 2 bonding) = 0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>F: 7 valence \u2212 (6 non-bonding + 1 bonding) = 0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>P: 5 valence \u2212 (0 non-bonding + 5 bonding) = 0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2705 All atoms have <strong>formal charge = 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">b. <strong>Lewis structure satisfying the octet rule on all atoms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To satisfy the <strong>octet rule<\/strong> (only 8 electrons around each atom), P must form only single bonds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>   ..\nO\u2013P\u2013F\n   ..\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Each atom obeys the octet rule (O and F with 3 lone pairs, P with two single bonds and one lone pair).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Formal charge calculation<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>O: 6 valence \u2212 (6 non-bonding + 1 bonding) = <strong>\u22121<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>F: 7 valence \u2212 (6 non-bonding + 1 bonding) = 0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>P: 5 valence \u2212 (2 non-bonding + 2 bonding) = <strong>+1<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the structure has:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>O: <strong>\u22121<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>P: <strong>+1<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>F: 0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">c. <strong>Best Lewis structure based on formal charge<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>best structure<\/strong> minimizes formal charges and places negative charges on the most electronegative atoms. Structure <strong>(a)<\/strong> has <strong>zero formal charges<\/strong> and allows phosphorus to expand its octet (which is valid for third-period elements like P). Structure <strong>(b)<\/strong> satisfies the octet rule but introduces nonzero formal charges (+1 on P, \u22121 on O), making it less stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2705 Conclusion:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Structure (a)<\/strong> \u2014 with a double bond between P and O and no formal charges \u2014 is the <strong>best Lewis structure<\/strong> for POF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner4-67.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-223347\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the POFmolecule, the P atom is the central atom. a Draw a Lewis diagram for POFin which all atoms have a formal charge of zero. b Draw a Lewis structure for POFin which the octet rule is satisfied on all atoms and show all NONZERO formal charges on all atoms. c Based on formal [&hellip;]<\/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-223346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223346","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=223346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}