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Back to Drawing Covalent Lewis Dot Structures

 

VSEPR

 

The Valance Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Model.

Electrons stay as far apart from each other in a molecule.  Besides lone pairs covalent bonds consist of electrons.

Electron pairs will repel away from each other in order to lower the repulsion in the molecule and make it more stable.

These shapes are very different from the shapes of the electron orbitals because of hybridization.

Click here to learn what hybridization is.

 Here is a table with the general formula and shapes.

A= central atom      X = other atom(s)   E=lone pairs on the central atom

VSEPR

On to Molecular Polarity

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