Chemistry: Lewis Dot Diagrams
How to Do a Lewis Dot Diagram:
Step 1: Find the Total Number of Valence Electrons.
Step 2: Find the Number of Electrons Needed to Make the Atoms “Happy”.
Step 3: Determine the number of bonds in the molecule.
Step 4: Choose a Central Atom.
Step 5: Draw a Skeletal Structure.
Step 6: Place Electrons Around Outside Atoms.
Step 7: Place Remaining Electrons Around the Central Atom.
I choose Lewis Dot Diagrams as my key point because Lewis Dot Diagrams are a lot easier to do than the Bohr Diagrams. Bohr diagram shows all of the electrons in the atom, while the Lewis Dot diagram shows only the outermost electrons (valence electrons) of the element. In addition to discovering the concept of covalent bonding, Lewis developed the Lewis structure, a means of showing schematically how valence electrons are arranged among the atoms in a molecule. Also known as the electron-dot system, Lewis structures represent the valence electrons as dots surrounding the chemical symbols of the atoms involved. These dots, which look rather like a colon, may be above or below, or on either side of, the chemical symbol. (The dots above or below the chemical symbol are side-by-side, like a colon turned at a 90°-angle.)
Real Life Application/Situation:
They’re a great way to do simple accounting of electrons, and so are used almost exclusively in basic organic chemistry (though not fully drawn out with all the dots). In that course, I’ll be expected to be able to understand and manipulate them with ease, and picture them in 3 dimensions. I’ll also see them in in biochemistry which I will need for one of my courses in the near future.
As I go further, I’ll learn other depictions that are more complicated.
General chemistry isn’t really the most exciting experience in the world, and doesn’t really have that many obvious connections to “real-life”. Basically, the entire experience is about learning how to communicate in the language of chemistry.
The websites chem.ucalgary.ca and wikipedia.org are great websites that help explain me key point. This is because chem.ucalgary.ca gives clear steps and understanding to what you are about to learn. This website also tells you the important/caution stuff, like that no Lewis Dot Diagram is complete without formal charges, so that you do not have to make a mistake and it also gives each step a definition as to what you are doing. The website wikipedia.org gives clear understanding just like the website chem.ucalgary.ca. This website also gives definitions to many words and it also tells you of all the names that mean Lewis Dot Diagrams. Also, this website gives a lot of examples to help show all the different ways of solving it and it gives the steps of doing a formal charge, if needed.
The book Beginning Chemistry gives a clear understanding to the topic, Lewis Dot Diagram. This is because it is part of a text book and that it gives multiple examples of how to do some ions and how to do a dot diagram. This book also lets you complete exercises and also gives you the answers to the questions so that way you know if you need to improve on some stuff. Beginning Chemistry also has little figures at the end of each paragraph to give you an understanding of what they just explained to you in the book.
Drew a spot,
For each molecule,
As you learn in many schools.
Work Cited and Consulted