Question

Draw the electron dot structure of chlorine molecule

Answer 1

Lewis dot structure

• G.N Lewis, an American chemist, introduced a simple notation to represent valence electrons in an atom. This notation is called Lewis dot structure. Generally dots are used to denote the valence electrons.
• Atomic number of chlorine is 17.
• There are 17 electrons in the chlorine atom (Cl).
• Its electronic configuration is 2,8,7.
• Outermost shell contain 7 electrons.
• Chlorine needs one more electron to attain stable electronic configuration.
• So chlorine shares its one electron with neighbouring chlorine atom.
• By sharing one pair of electrons, a single bond is formed between the chlorine atom.

$\underset{··}{\overset{··}{:\mathrm{Cl}·}}+.\underset{··}{\overset{··}{Cl}}:\to :\underset{··}{\overset{··}{Cl}}\overline{)··}\underset{··}{\overset{··}{Cl}}$