December 23, 2024, 05:10:00 AM
Forum Rules: Read This Before Posting


Topic: Resonance sturctures  (Read 3963 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline deutdeut

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 112
  • Mole Snacks: +2/-0
Resonance sturctures
« on: December 15, 2006, 12:36:17 AM »
The book asks me to draw the resonance structures of a molecule, do I need to connect the structures by an arrow? Because the arrow is just used to represent the true molecule is internediate the resonance structures, since it just asks me to draw the resonance structures, can I omit the arrow?

Offline Bakegaku

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 269
  • Mole Snacks: +20/-5
  • Gender: Male
  • Hydrogen peroxide is my miracle cure to everything
Re: Resonance sturctures
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2006, 12:39:48 AM »
Is this just a homework assignment?  I doubt it will matter that much if you do or don't include it in that situation.  If so, I'd ask the teacher for their preference.

But other than that I think I'd suggest just going with the arrow to be safe.
"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing"
-Socrates

"I see, I forget.  I hear, I remember.  I do, I understand"
-Confucius

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
- Albert Einstein?

"American cartoons place characters in situations; anime
places situations around characters.  Anime characters
are not like fictional characters but more like fictional
people; their actions stem directly from their personalities,
and not just as a means to move the story's plot
forward.  We are made to sympathize with them, and
not simply be entertained by them."
~John Oppliger~

Offline Yggdrasil

  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3215
  • Mole Snacks: +485/-21
  • Gender: Male
  • Physical Biochemist
Re: Resonance sturctures
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2006, 12:48:05 AM »
I think you should draw the arrow just to make it clear that structures are resonance structures and not just two random structures you've drawn next to eachother.

Offline deutdeut

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 112
  • Mole Snacks: +2/-0
Re: Resonance sturctures
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2006, 12:49:42 AM »
Is the arrow really important? What's its significance?

Offline enahs

  • 16-92-15-68 32-7-53-92-16
  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2179
  • Mole Snacks: +206/-44
  • Gender: Male
Re: Resonance sturctures
« Reply #4 on: December 15, 2006, 01:20:33 AM »
Yes you should draw it and yes it is important and significant.

Lewis structures represent a simple form of bonding in a molecule and lone pairs, the arrows in the resonance structure emphasis that it is not either one of these two (or 3,4,5...n) structures, but a hybrid of the them.

I can almost guarantee your instructor will take off points if you do not include the arrow (and the correct kind of arrow too).

Sponsored Links