What is the Lewis dot diagram for H2O?

1 Answer
anor277
May 30, 2017

Well we have 6 valence electrons from the oxygen atom......

Explanation:

And 2 valence electrons from the hydrogen atom. And thus we have to distribute 4 electron pairs around the central oxygen atom. VESPER predicts that these 4 electron pairs will assume the shape of a tetrahedron:

![boundless.com](useruploads.socratic.orguseruploads.socratic.org)

The electronic geometry is tetrahedral to a first approximation. The molecular geometry is bent with ∠H−O−H≅104.5∘; the (non-bonding) lone pairs are closer to the oxygen atom, and these tend to compress ∠H−O−H down from the ideal tetrahedral angle of 109.5∘.

Related questions
See all questions in Lewis Dot Diagram
Impact of this question
4998 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License