Commonly Tested Lewis Structures

We draw Lewis Structures to predict:

-the shape of a molecule.

-the reactivity of a molecule and how it might interact with other molecules.

-the physical properties of a molecule such as boiling point, surface tension, etc.

Drawing the Lewis Structure for H₂O

When you are learning to draw Lewis Structures you will see this one frequently. Be sure to make sure you are able to draw the structure for H₂O quickly and accurately!

The Lewis Structure for water is useful because it allows to determine the molecular geometry and the polarity of the molecule. Because of the two lone pairs, H₂O will have a bent molecular geometry and it will be a polar molecule.

Remember that Hydrogen only needs two electrons to have a full outer shell.

Video: Drawing the Lewis Structure for H₂O

It is helpful if you:

• Try to draw the H₂O Lewis structure before watching the video.
• Watch the video and see if you missed any steps or information.
• Try structures similar to H₂O (like HCl or CH₄) for more practice.

List of Lewis Structures

Acetone	BF3	BH4-	BrF5	BrO3-	C2H2	C2H4	ClO-
CH4	ClO2-	ClO2	ClO4-	CO	CS2	H2O	H3O+
HCl	HNO3	I3-	ICl4-	IF5	N2	N3-	NH2OH
NH3	NO2-	NO2	NO3-	O2	OF2	PCl5	PH3
PO33-	PO43-	SCl2	SF4	SF6	SO3	SO42-	XeF2
XeF4