{"id":224575,"date":"2025-06-03T09:18:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=224575"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:18:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:18:36","slug":"draw-the-best-lewis-structure-includes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/03\/draw-the-best-lewis-structure-includes\/","title":{"rendered":"Draw the best Lewis structure includes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Draw the best Lewis structure includes <strong><em>_ One double bond, one single bond, and one lone (unshared) electron pair on O Two single bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Two double bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Two double bonds and no lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Draw the best Lewis structure for the molecule OCl2 (the oxygen atom is in the center). Complete the sentence: My best Lewis structure includes _<\/em><\/strong> One double bond, one single bond, and one lone (unshared) electron pair on O Two single bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Two double bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Two double bonds and no lone (unshared) electron pairs on O<\/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<p><strong>Correct answer:<\/strong><br><strong>Two single bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation (approx. 300 words):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the best Lewis structure for <strong>OCl\u2082 (oxygen dichloride)<\/strong>, we follow a systematic approach based on valence electrons, octet rule, and minimizing formal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1: Count total valence electrons.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oxygen (O) has 6 valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each chlorine (Cl) has 7 valence electrons.<br>So the total is: 6 (O) + 2 \u00d7 7 (Cl) = <strong>20 valence electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 2: Choose the central atom.<\/strong><br>Oxygen is less electronegative than chlorine and is placed in the center. So the structure is Cl\u2013O\u2013Cl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 3: Form single bonds between O and each Cl.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Each bond uses 2 electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Two single bonds = 4 electrons used.<br>Remaining = 20 &#8211; 4 = <strong>16 electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 4: Distribute remaining electrons to complete octets.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Place 6 electrons (3 lone pairs) on each Cl to satisfy their octets.<br>Cl (1 bond + 3 lone pairs = 8 electrons)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>That uses 6 + 6 = 12 electrons.<br>Remaining = 16 &#8211; 12 = <strong>4 electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 5: Place remaining electrons on central atom (O).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oxygen already has 2 bonds (4 electrons).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add 2 lone pairs (4 electrons) to complete its octet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now oxygen has 4 electrons from lone pairs and 4 from bonds = 8 total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 6: Check formal charges.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>O: 6 valence e\u207b \u2013 (4 nonbonding + 2 bonds) = 0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cl: 7 valence e\u207b \u2013 (6 nonbonding + 1 bond) = 0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><br>The best Lewis structure has <strong>two single bonds<\/strong> (O\u2013Cl), and <strong>two lone pairs<\/strong> on the central oxygen atom. This structure satisfies the octet rule and minimizes formal charges for all atoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Double bonds are not needed and would give non-zero formal charges or violate the preferred structure of halogens (which typically form one bond only).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the correct sentence completion is:<br><strong>My best Lewis structure includes two single bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O.<\/strong><\/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-banner4-206.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-224576\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Draw the best Lewis structure includes _ One double bond, one single bond, and one lone (unshared) electron pair on O Two single bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Two double bonds and two lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Two double bonds and no lone (unshared) electron pairs on O Draw [&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 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