Question

Based on formal charges, draw the most preferred Lewis structure for the chlorate ion, ClO3−. To add lone pairs, click the button before clicking on the molecule. To add bonds connect atoms with a line . To add formal charges, click the or button before clicking on the molecule. Draw the molecule by placing atoms on the grid and connecting them with bonds. Include lone pairs of electrons and formal charges.

Answer 1

The structure is shown below.

Step-by-step explanation:

To draw the Lewis structure, we put the central atom with its valence electrons, surrounded by their binders. In this case, the central atom is Cl, which has 7 electrons of valence. Each oxygen has 6 valence electrons.

Chlorine may expand the octet, and be stable with more than 8 electrons. Oxygen, although, must have 8 electrons to be stable. Thus, two oxygen will share two pairs with chlorine, and the other will receive one electron of the chlorine. So, the chlorine will have one lone pair.

The formal charges (in red) is calculated by:

FC = X - (Y + Z/2), where X is the number of valence electrons, Y is the number of unshared electrons and Z is the number of sharing electrons. Thus:

Cl: FC = 7 - (2 + 10/2) = 0

O that shares 2 electrons: FC = 6 - (4 + 4/2) = 0

O that sahres only 1 electron: FC = 6 - (6 + 2/2) = -1

The geometry will be pyramidal trigonal, as shown below.