1. Resonance structures are a better description of a Lewis dot structure .
2. Best resonance structure is the one with the least formal charge.
<u>EXPLAINATION OF RASONANCE STRUCTURE OF CARBON DIOXIDE</u>
1.Carbon dioxide has three resonance structures .
2. The CO2 molecule has a total of 16 valence electrons ,
1C = 4 electrons
2O= 12 electrons
<u>three resonance structures for CO2</u>
1. The atoms in all three resonance structures have full octets;
structure 1 will be more stable because it has no separation of charge.
2. Structures 2 and 3 show charge separation caused by the presence of formal charges on both oxygen atoms.
