how to do the lewis structure of chlorodifluoromethane?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Well... first, let's recognize that the chemical formula for chlorodifluoromethane is CHClF2. Count out how many valence electrons there are. C = 4, H = 1, Cl = 7, F (X2) = 14. Total is  26. Let's put C as the central atom, and put the other elements surrounding it. Draw a pair of electrons beach each element and the central atom. Then fill the halogen elements with 3 pairs of electrons each to fill their octets. Count out how many dots you have. There should be 26, making this the correct lewis structure!

Remember, hydrogen doesn't have a full octet, only a maximum of two electrons.