Question

Hydrogen cyanide is poisonous liquid that has a faint, almond-like smell. One molecule of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is made up of one hydrogen atom, one carbon atom, and one nitrogen atom, shown below. Which of the answer choices shows the correct Lewis dot diagram for hydrogen cyanide?

Answer 1

"H-C=N:" is the one answer among the choices given in the question that shows the correct dot diagram. The correct option among all the options that are given in the question is the fourth option or option "D". The other choices can be neglected. I hope that this is the answer that has come to your help.

Answer 2

Answer :  The correct Lewis-dot diagram is shown below.

Explanation :

Lewis-dot structure : Lewis-dot structure shows the bonding between the atoms of a molecule. Lewis-dot structure also shows the unpaired electrons present in the molecule.  In the Lewis-dot structure, the dot represent the number of valence electrons.

The given molecule is, Hydrogen cyanide (HCN)

As we know that carbon has '4' valence electrons, hydrogen has '1' valence electron and nitrogen has '5' valence electrons.

Therefore, the total number of valence electrons in hydrogen cyanide, $HCN$ = 1 + 4 + 5 = 10

According to Lewis-dot structure, there are 10 number of bonding electrons and 0 number of non-bonding electrons.

The Lewis-dot structure of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is shown below.