Lewis Structure Worksheet
Lewis Theory Notes
1. Valence electrons play a fundamental role in chemical bonding.
2. Sometimes bonding involves the TRANSFER of one or more electrons from one atom to another.
This leads to ion formation = IONIC BONDS.
3. Sometimes bonding involves SHARING electrons between atoms = COVALENT BONDS.
4. Electrons are transferred or shared such that each atom gains a more stable electron configuration.
- Usually changes to NOBLE GAS configuration (i.e. having 8 electrons in its outer shell)
- This arrangement (having 8 electrons on the outer shell) is called an OCTET.
Lewis Structures & Electron Dot Diagrams
- Show the valence electrons of an atom/ion
- Chemical symbol represents the nucleus and the inner electrons
- Dots represent the valence electrons
* Since elements in the same family have the same number of valence electrons, their dot diagrams will look similar
*Lewis dot diagrams only work well for representative elements
- Transition metals, lanthanides, and actinides have incompletely filled inner shells (d or f orbitals), so we
can’t make simple Lewis Diagrams for them
Drawing Lewis Structures for IONIC COMPOUNDS
- Draw the Lewis Dot Diagram for each of the ions involved à including the ion charge
