Question

What geometric shape is the carbon dioxide molecule? The Lewis structure for CO2 contains two double bonds.

Answer 1

Answer: Linear

Explaination: The central atom of a carbon dioxide molecule is carbon. Carbon is tetravalent which just means it has 4 valence electrons. Because the valence shell isn’t full, the carbon atom can bond with other atoms creating a total of 4 bonds. This then allows the carbon to double bond with 2 oxygen atoms. Now, the atoms in the CO2 molecule Don’t share the electrons evenly because of atomic number or proton count. Because oxygen has an atomic number of 6, carbon has an atomic number of 4, and opposites attract (referring to the positivity of the nucleus and the negativity of the shared electrons), the oxygen atoms will have a slightly negative charge (-) and the oxygen will have a slightly positive charge (+ ). Therefore, the slightly negative oxygen atoms repel creating that linear shape.