Utterly Confused About Lewis Structures

Let s work two examples illustrating the steps necessary to produce a good Lewis structure. We will take HN02 and XeF4 for these examples. The first molecule is nitrous acid. It is an example of an oxyacid. (Oxyacids are compounds containing hydrogen, oxygen, and one other element.) The other compound is xenon tetrafluoride. 

There is more than one way to arrange the atoms in nitrous acid. However, only one will lead to a good Lewis structure. You should avoid any arrangement that places identical atoms adjacent. Identical atoms, other than carbon, rarely bond 

When you begin a Lewis structure, do not place identical atoms adjacent to each other unless there is no alternative. Carbon is the only common exception. Most compounds containing more than one carbon atom will have the carbon atoms adjacent to each other. 

When drawing the Lewis structure of an oxyacid, you should place one acidic hydrogen atom on a separate oxygen atom. 

We know that there needs to be at least one bond between each pair of atoms. We also know that the bond from hydrogen to the adjacent oxygen will be the only bond to the hydrogen atom. This information should be on your mind as you move on to complete the structure. 

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