C2H2 (acetylene or ethyne) contains two carbon atoms and two hydrogen atoms. There is a triple bond between carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms are joint with carbon atoms though sigma bonds. There are no lone pairs on carbon or hydrogen atoms. In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to draw the lewis structure of C2H2 step by step.
You can see the lewis structure of C2H2 in above figure and you can see it is a simple structure. Now, we are going to draw that C2H4 lewis structure step by step.
There are several steps to draw a lewis structure of a molecule. Those steps are used in detail in this tutorial to draw C2H2 lewis structure. Because C2H2 molecule is a simple molecule, those all steps may not be used. However, you can learn basic examples of drawing lewis structures.
There are only two elements in C2H2; hydrogen and carbon. Hydrogen is a group IA element and has only one electron in its last shell (valence shell). Carbon is a group IVA element in the periodic table and contains four electrons in their last shell. Now we know how many electrons are includes in valence shells of hydrogen and carbon atomss.
Total valance electrons pairs = σ bonds + π bonds + lone pairs at valence shells
Total electron pairs are determined by dividing the number total valence electrons by two. For, C2H2, total pairs of electrons are 5 (=10/2) in their valence shells.
To be the center atom, ability of having greater valance and being a electropositive element are important facts. however, from our experience we know that there is a very low possibility that hydrogen being a center atom in a molecule.
After deciding the center atom and basic sketch of C2H2 molecule, we can start to mark lone pairs on atoms. Remember that, there are total of five electron pairs to mark on atoms.
In above sketch, one carbon atom will take +2 charge while other carbon atom will take -2 charge. But, there are no charges on hydrogen atoms.
If there are charges on atoms and if those charges can be reduced by converting lone pairs to bonds, we should do that to obtain the best stable lewis structure. In the above structure, there ar charges on both carbon atoms. Also one carbon atom (with -2 charge) has 2 lone pairs which can be converted to make bonds with other carbon atom to reduce charges.
In the last structure, there are no charges on atoms. Therefore, this structure should be the lewis structure of C2H2 (acetylene / ethyne).
Questions
There is a double bond between two carbon atoms in acetylene. There are no lone pairs on carbon and hydrogen atom in their valence shells because all valence electrons are contributed to make bonds.
Yes. Observe how many sigma bonds and lone pairs exist around a carbon atom and add them. There are only two sigma bonds around a carbon atom. Therefore, hybridization of carbon atom is sp2.