Nonmetal atom sharing rule

The Nonmetal Atom Sharing Rule of Low-Barrier Transition States... 

Lewis structures are drawn to represent the arrangement of the valence electrons in a molecule. The rules for drawing Lewis structures are based on the observation that nonmetal atoms tend to achieve noble gas electron configurations by sharing electrons. This leads to a duet rule for hydrogen and to an octet rule for many other atoms. 

These examples illustrate the principle that atoms in covalently bonded species tend to have noble-gas electronic structures. This generalization is often referred to as the octet rule. Nonmetals, except for hydrogen, achieve a noble-gas structure by sharing in an octet of electrons (eight). Hydrogen atoms, in molecules or polyatomic ions, are surrounded by a duet of electrons (two). 

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