Ch1a Supplemental Materials

Extra Practice with Lewis Dot and Resonance Structures

Draw Lewis structures for the molecules below. Draw resonance structures where

appropriate and label any formal charges. Rank resonance structures in order of

importance to overall structure.

1.) [SCN]-

2.) [HC2O4]-

3.) SNF3

4.) [S2CO]2- (C is central)

5.) [IO3]-

6.) [HCO3]-

7.) PF3

8.) [SO4]2-

9.) [C3H5]+

10.) [S3N3]- (cyclic, every other atom is S)

11.) [ClO4]-

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Worksheet for Lewis Structures, Resonance Structures, and Formal Charge

Solutions

S C N S C N
1.)

There are two things to consider here. The structure on the left gives N three

bonds which is good, the structure on the right puts the formal negative charge on the

more electronegative element. My guess is that the left structure is more important

because N really likes to have 3 bonds.

O O H O O H

O O O C C O
C C
2.)

These are equally important.

F S F

F
3.)
4.)

O O O

S C S S C S S
S C

The right two structures are equally important and probably more important than

the left structure (negative charge on more electronegative atom).

5.)

O O O

O I O O I O O I O

O O
O

O I O O I O
O I O

The top three are equally important. The first two on the bottom are of equal importance.

I think the bottom right two will be most important (fewer formal charges), then maybe
the bottom left structure (maximize bonding), then the top three structures. The order of

importance isn’t entirely clear between the last two groups. (Argument between

maximize bonding and put negative charge on the more electronegative atom.)

O H O H

O C O O C O
6.)

These two structures are equally important.

F P F

F
7.)

8.)
O O O

O S O O S O O S O

O O O

O O O

O S O O S O O S O

O O O

O O O

O S O O S O O S O

O O O

O S O
2-
O

These are pretty much in order of what I would expect the importance to be.
9.)

H H H H
H H

C C C C C C
H H
H H

These are of equal importance. No choice but to disobey the octet rule for one carbon.

10.)

S S S
N N N N N N

S S S S S S
N N N

S S S
N N N N N N

S S S S S S
N N N
The three structures in the bottom row are equivalent and may be more important than the

top three (which are equivalent with each other) due to fewer formal charges.

11.)

O O O

O Cl O O Cl O O Cl O

O O O

O Cl O

These four are equally important. You might also want to draw structures where two

oxygen atoms have negative charges and the chlorine has a positive charge. Those would

be OK, but would be less important than this set because with this first set we don’t need

to put a formal charge on more than one atom or to put a positive charge on an

electronegative atom.