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An atom's Lewis dot structure has four dots. Which of the following elements could it be, and why?

O Aluminum, because it is a metal with four electrons in period 3.
O Beryllium, because it is in period 2 and has four total electrons.
O Carbon, because it is in group 14 and has four valence electrons.
O Calcium, because it is an alkaline earth metal in period 4.​

User Bram Janssen
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2 Answers

11 votes
11 votes

Final answer:

The atom's Lewis dot structure with four dots is likely to be Carbon since it belongs to group 14 and has four valence electrons. The other elements listed do not have four valence electrons and therefore would not match the four-dot structure.

Step-by-step explanation:

An atom's Lewis dot structure with four dots represents an element with four valence electrons. Among the given options, Carbon, because it is in group 14 (also known as the carbon group) has four valence electrons, aligns with this description. The other options, Aluminum, Beryllium, and Calcium, have three, two, and two valence electrons, respectively, which do not match the given Lewis dot structure of four dots.

Based on the information provided, Beryllium has two valence electrons in its 2s shell, so its Lewis dot structure would only have two dots around the element's symbol. Moreover, the valence electron configuration for Aluminum is 3s² 3p¹, resulting in three dots in total. Therefore, only Carbon with the electron configuration ending in 2p² matches the criteria, making it the correct element with a Lewis dot structure of four dots.

User IEngineer
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15 votes
15 votes

Answer:

Its carbon

Step-by-step explanation:

User Pixelfreak
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