Examples

Nitrogen is the central atom:     There are 5 + 2×6 + 1 = 18 electrons, and 4 are used to make the two covalent bonds. Both oxygens get 6 electrons as three lone pairs, and nitrogen gets one … Read more

Sulfur is the central atom:     There are 3×6 + 6 + 2 = 26 electrons, and 6 of them are used to make 3 bonds. Three oxygens take 3 lone pairs each and one goes to the sulfur: … Read more

Phosphorous is the central and there are 5 + 4×6 + 3 = 32 electrons. Give each oxygen three lone pairs:     All the electrons are used and the only thing to fix is the ionic charge. As drawn, … Read more

Sulfur is the central atom:     There are 4×6 + 6 + 2 = 32 electrons, and 8 of them are used to make 4 bonds. The four oxygens take 3 lone pairs each and no electrons are left: … Read more

There are 4 + 3×6 + 2 = 24 electrons. The carbon goes in the middle, and the oxygens take 6 electrons each as three lone pairs:     The carbon lacks an octet, so we use a lone pair … Read more

Carbon is the central atom:     There are 6 + 4 + 5 + 1 = 16 electrons, and 4 are already taken to make two covalent bonds. The remaining 12 are divided between the S and N as … Read more

Connect the atoms together and count the number of electrons by adding 1 since there is a negative charge:   #e– = 4 + 5 + 1 = 10   Two electrons are used to make the covalent bond, therefore, the … Read more

The central atom is the oxygen, so we can draw a preliminary skeletal structure:     The total number of electrons is 6 + 3 – 1 = 8, out of which, 6 are used to make three covalent bonds, … Read more

Nitrogen is the central atom, so we can draw a preliminary skeletal structure:     There is a positive charge, so to determine the number of electrons, we subtract 1 from the total number of valence electrons:   5 + … Read more

Because the hydrogens are always in terminal positions, the carbons must be connected, and therefore, we can draw a preliminary skeletal structure to start with:     There are 2×4 + 2×1 = 10 valence, and 6 have been used … Read more