Practice question · Select all that apply
Which species genuinely break the octet rule, rather than merely looking unusual?
Hints
- Three fall short, exceed, or cannot pair; one is a textbook octet.
- Methane has exactly eight electrons around carbon, the rule working normally.
Show the answer
- A. , with twelve electrons on sulfur
- B. , with six electrons on boron
- D. NO, with an odd number of electrons
Why
BF3 is an incomplete octet, SF6 an expanded one, and NO has an unpairable odd electron. Methane obeys the octet rule perfectly and is not an exception at all.
Practise Lewis Structures, Formal Charge and Resonance
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