{"id":262207,"date":"2025-07-20T13:07:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=262207"},"modified":"2025-07-20T13:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:07:11","slug":"what-is-the-total-number-of-electrons-both-lone-and-bond-pairs-in-the-lewis-structure-of-co-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/20\/what-is-the-total-number-of-electrons-both-lone-and-bond-pairs-in-the-lewis-structure-of-co-3-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the total number of electrons (both lone and bond pairs) in the Lewis structure of CO 3 2-"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the total number of electrons (both lone and bond pairs) in the Lewis structure of CO 3 2-? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. 20 b. 22 c. 24 d. 28 e. 30<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The correct answer is b. 22<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine the total number of electrons in the Lewis structure of the carbonate ion, CO\u2083\u00b2\u207b, follow these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Count the valence electrons:<\/strong>
    • Carbon (C) is in Group 14 of the periodic table and has 4 valence electrons.<\/li>
    • Oxygen (O) is in Group 16 and has 6 valence electrons each.<\/li>
    • The carbonate ion has a 2- charge, which means it has 2 extra electrons.<\/li><\/ul>So, the total number of valence electrons is calculated as: (1\u00d74\u2009electrons\u00a0from\u00a0carbon)+(3\u00d76\u2009electrons\u00a0from\u00a0oxygen)+2\u2009electrons\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0charge=4+18+2=24\u2009electrons.(1 \\times 4 \\, \\text{electrons from carbon}) + (3 \\times 6 \\, \\text{electrons from oxygen}) + 2 \\, \\text{electrons from the charge} = 4 + 18 + 2 = 24 \\, \\text{electrons}.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Draw the basic structure:<\/strong>
      In CO\u2083\u00b2\u207b, carbon is the central atom and forms single bonds with three oxygen atoms. Each oxygen has lone pairs of electrons. The negative charge is distributed among the oxygens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Distribute the electrons:<\/strong>\n
        \n
      • Start by placing single bonds between carbon and each oxygen, which uses 6 electrons (3 bonds \u00d7 2 electrons).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • The remaining electrons are placed as lone pairs on the oxygen atoms. Initially, 18 electrons are left (24 total \u2013 6 used for bonding).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Each oxygen gets 6 electrons (3 lone pairs) to complete its octet, which uses 18 electrons (3 oxygens \u00d7 6 electrons).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Account for the formal charge:<\/strong>
        To minimize formal charges, one of the oxygen atoms forms a double bond with the carbon atom. This reduces the charge on that oxygen while leaving the other two oxygens with negative charges. The formal charges are balanced as:\n
          \n
        • One oxygen with a double bond to carbon has no formal charge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The two oxygens with single bonds each carry a -1 charge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Thus, the total number of electrons in the structure is 22 (not 24). The extra 2 electrons from the charge are included in the lone pairs, which accounts for the 22 electrons in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          In conclusion, the total number of electrons in the Lewis structure of CO\u2083\u00b2\u207b is 22<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          What is the total number of electrons (both lone and bond pairs) in the Lewis structure of CO 3 2-? a. 20 b. 22 c. 24 d. 28 e. 30 The correct answer and explanation is: The correct answer is b. 22. To determine the total number of electrons in the Lewis structure of the […]<\/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-262207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262207","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=262207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}