What is the Lewis structure of N2O?

1 Answer
anor277
Jun 16, 2018

Well, we got 16 valence electrons....

Explanation:

16 valence electrons:

#2xx5_"nitrogen"+1xx6_"oxygen"="8 electron pairs"#

...to distribute over 3 centres. And you must simply KNOW here that the oxygen is terminal. And given the example, there will be formal charge separation.

#N-=stackrel(+)N-O^(-)# versus #""^(-)N=stackrel(+)N=O#

This is half the story inasmuch as we consider the data: i.e. the bond-length of dinitrogen, dioxygen, and nitrous oxide...

#N-=N# #:"bond length"=1.10xx10^-10*m#

#O=O# #:"bond length"=1.21xx10^-10*m#

#N-=stackrel+N-O^(-)# #:"N-O bond length"=1.19xx10^-10*m#

#:"N-N bond length"=1.13xx10^-10*m#

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