Would an element with 7 valence electrons be more or less reactive than an element with 3 valence electrons?
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Answer:
See answer below
Explanation:
First, let's explain what a Lewis structure is.
A lewis structure in short words is a draw of an atom or molecule showing how the electrons bond with another electrons of atoms, and also shows the unshared pair of electrons, which are the electrons that do not bond in the molecule. In the case of an atom, it shows all the available electrons it has to be shared and bonded with another atom to form a molecule.
With this said, in order to draw the lewis structure we need to know how many electrons the atoms involved have. To know this, we need to write the electronic configuration of the atoms, based on it's atomic number.
In the case of Hydrogen (Z = 1), Carbon (Z = 6) and Cl (Z = 17):
[H] = 1s¹ 1 electron available.
[C] = 1s² 2s² 2p² In this case, we have 4 electrons.
[Cl] = 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁵ In this case, 7 electrons.
Now that we have the configuration, and the available electrons, we need to draw the atoms. The Carbon is the more electronegative atom of them, so, the bonding will be formed based on this atom as the central. So the other atoms will just bond and shared a pair of electron with the carbon. The HCCl₃ can be treated as CH₄, with a tetrahedrical form.
The picture below shows the lewis structure.
Hope this helps
