Sulfuric acid is the industrial chemical produced in...

Sulfuric acid is the industrial chemical produced in greatest quantity worldwide. About 90 billion pounds are produced each year in the United States alone. Write the Lewis structure for sulfuric acid, $\mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{SO}_{4},$ which has two oxygen atoms and two OH groups bonded to the sulfur.

Key Concepts

Resonance Structures

Resonance structures are different Lewis structures that represent the same molecule, where the actual electron distribution is a hybrid of these structures. They are particularly useful in molecules where electrons are delocalized, and can help provide a more accurate depiction of the molecule's electronic structure. For complex molecules like sulfuric acid, resonance models may be used to explain the delocalization of electrons among the oxygen atoms.

Expanded Octet

An expanded octet refers to the ability of elements in the third period or below to accommodate more than eight electrons in their valence shell. Sulfur, being in the third period, can have an expanded octet which allows it to form more than four bonds. This concept is important when drawing the Lewis structure for molecules like sulfuric acid, where sulfur is bonded to four oxygen atoms.

Formal Charge

Formal charge is a bookkeeping tool used to estimate the distribution of electrons in a molecule. It is calculated by assuming that electrons in a chemical bond are shared equally between atoms. In drawing Lewis structures, minimizing formal charges and distributing them appropriately can help identify the most stable Lewis structure among possible alternatives.

Valence Electrons

Valence electrons are the electrons in the outermost shell of an atom and play a key role in chemical bonding. When drawing a Lewis structure, the total number of valence electrons is summed for all atoms in the molecule. This total is then distributed between bonds and lone pairs so that each atom achieves a stable electron configuration, following the octet rule or its variations.

Lewis Structure

The Lewis structure is a diagram that represents the bonding between atoms of a molecule and the lone pairs of electrons that may exist. It is drawn by showing the valence electrons as dots around the atoms and connecting atoms with lines to indicate bonds. In constructing Lewis structures, one must account for all valence electrons, ensuring that each atom (with exceptions allowed for elements that can expand their octet) has a configuration close to a noble gas arrangement.

Transcript

00:01 Good, eh? in this question, we are told that sulfuric acid is the most widely produced industrial chemical in the united states alone, production -wise.

00:11 And this question requires us to write down the lower structure for sulfuric acid.

00:15 And it is given that there are two oxygen atoms bonded to the sulfur and two hydroxyl groups bonded to sulfur as well.

00:23 So to start off, we are going to write down the total number of valence electrons for h2s.

00:30 So 4.

00:31 So the number of valence electrons for hydrogen is 1 times 2 hydrogen electrons plus 6 electrons for sulfur plus 6 valence electrons for oxygen times 4.

00:48 And this will give us a total of 32 valence electrons.

00:57 So putting down in the middle, we have the least electronegative atom, which is sulfur.

01:04 And then we have the oxygen atoms surrounding the sulfur.

01:12 And we have two hydroxyl groups.

01:13 So we have two hydrogens bonded to the oxygens.

01:19 Then the following step is to put our bonding electrons.

01:27 And these electrons move in pairs.

01:31 So now you notice that we have two oxygen atoms bonded to the sulfur and two oh groups bonded to the sulfur.

01:41 So now we have two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve.

01:46 Electrons.

01:47 And so we have to fill now the outer electrons, the outer atoms with the remaining electrons.

02:06 Okay...