Re: TOJC: Double Bonds vs. Single Bonds
stoneag@PLU.edu
Thu, 12 Sep 1996 11:10:11 -0800 (PST)
Jolene,If you did not put a double bond on the sulfer and two oxygens you
would be left with a lone pair of unbonded electrons on the sulfer. This
would mean that the sulfer octet would not be full neither would the
oxygens. The -2 charge on the whole atom satisifys the octet on the two
oxygensthat are covalently bonded to sulfer one time.
I hope that this helps,allister
On Thu, 12 Sep 1996, Jolene wrote:
> On page 11, there is a sample problem where you are supposed to write the
> Lewis structure for the sulfate ion. Does anyone know why you're
> supposed to double bond two oxygens to the sulfur when single bonds would
> work and still fill the valence shell?
> Thanks!
> Jolene Schmid
>
>