Atomic Lewis Diagrams

Review of Lewis Diagrams for Nonmetal Atoms

For review and practice, I would like you to determine the electron dot diagrams (Lewis diagrams) for these elements which we will be working with during the next few pages. (These are also listed in exercise 12 in your workbook.)

The answers follow on this page.

Answers

Let me go over these with you quickly. Hydrogen has one valence electron so its electron dot diagram has one dot. Carbon has four. Nitrogen has five. Oxygen has six. Chlorine has seven. Silicon, like carbon, has four valence electrons. Phosphorus, like nitrogen, has five. Sulfur, like oxygen, has six. Bromine has seven.

It is not particularly important exactly where those dots go in the diagram, although generally they are put to the left, to the right, above and below. It is usually convenient to do the electron dot diagrams in pencil so that if you need to move the electrons for one reason or another, such as bonding, it will be easy to do so.

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