Which element would you expect to have a lewis symbol similar to that of sulfur?

Question

Chemistry

Rodrigo Choi

23 February, 20:21

Which element would you expect to have a lewis symbol similar to that of sulfur?

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Answers (2)

Know the Answer?

Evelin Rodgers · Answer 1

Oxygen

Explanation:

Because both oxygen and sulphur has similar outermost shell configuration (6 valence electrons) hence will have similar Lewis symbol

Nolan Guzman · Answer 2

Oxygen

Explanation:

Representing an element using the lewis symbol principally involves writing the symbol of the element and then surrounding the element by a number of dots that corresponds to the number of electrons the element has in its outermost shell.

Sulphur as an element belong to group 16 of the periodic table. What this means is that it has 6 electrons in its outermost shell. When writing the lewis symbol for sulphur, what we do is to write the symbol S and surround it with 6 dots.

Now to get the number of dots like we said earlier, it boils down to the number of electrons in the outermost shell of the element.

Putting elements in the same group involve them having the same number of electrons in the outermost shell. So what this means is that elements in the same group, since they have the same number of valence electrons would have the same number of dots surrounding them.

Hence, since oxygen belongs to the same group as sulphur, it is expected that atomic oxygen has the same number of dots surrounding it in its Lewis symbol as though that of sulphur.

Other elements in the group can have similar Lewis dot as that of sulphur include tellurium, selenium and polonium