A Lewis diagram shows how the valence electrons are distributed around the atoms in a molecule. Shared pairs of electrons are drawn as lines between atoms, while lone pairs of electrons are drawn …

So instead of 43, we are now going to account for 42 in our dot structure. Let's go back up to our guidelines, and I'll show you where I have that written down right up here.

Lewis diagrams of atoms show the element's symbol surrounded by dots representing valence electrons. For monatomic ions, Lewis diagrams also includes brackets and the ion's charge.

Let's do one for CH20, so if I want to draw the dot structure for the molecular formula CH20, once again, I start with carbon in the center, so four valence electrons like that, and two hydrogens, so I'll just put …

Let's go ahead and look and see what our dot structure would look like and assign some formal charges. So now, I would have sulfur double bonded to this top oxygen, and double bonded to this bottom …

Lewis diagrams (or Lewis structures) are models that show how atoms are bonded together in a molecule and the arrangement of valence electrons around the atoms in that molecule.

Now when you're drawing dot structures, you don't always have to do this step where you're drawing each individual atom and summing all of your valence electrons that way.

So instead of 43, we are now going to account for 42 in our dot structure. Let's go back up to our guidelines, and I'll show you where I have that written down right up here.

Check your understanding of Lewis diagrams in this set of free practice questions designed for AP Chemistry students.

The Lewis diagram of a molecule can be constructed using the following stepwise procedure: (1) Find the number of valence electrons in the molecule. (2) Draw single bonds between bonded atoms. (3) …