Question

For the lewis structure of BCl3, does it have a total of 24 valence electrons? Also does it have a total of 4 bonds? If possible can you draw the lewis structure?

Answer 1

Yes it has 24 electrons. It can't have but three bonds since there are only three atoms hooked to it (the three Cl atoms). I can't draw the Lewis dot structure on this forum but here is a site that shows it. Frankly I don't like the way this site does it but the structure is correct.

Answer 2

But when I take the total number of electrons needed to be "happy" subract the total number of valence electron the result is 4 bonds.
1*8=8
3*8=24
24+8=32

1*3=3 valence electrons
3*7=21 valence electrons
Total valence electron: 24
so... 32-24=8/2=4

Answer 3

By the way, is that correct??

Answer 4

B doesn't obey the octet rule. Look at that structure again at the site and you will see B has only 6 electrons while each Cl has 8.

Answer 5

There can be only three bonds for obvious reasons even if B obeyed the octet rule. That's because there are only three Cl atoms; what else would you add to make the fourth bond?

Answer 6

So would N2 have two bonds then?

Answer 7

I don't think you posted the site.

Answer 8

Excuse me! Here is the site. Sorry about that.
http://biochemhelp.com/lewis-structure-for-bcl3.html

As for nitrogen, it has 10 electrons; the Lewis dot structure is <b>:N:::N:</b>

Answer 9

So for N2, it would be like this?
Step1: 5*2=10 valence electrons
Step2: 8*2=16 electrons total
Step3: 16-10=6 electrons
Step4: 6/2= 3 bond pairs
Step5: 10-6=4/2=2 lone pairs
I am confident that this is correct! Please check.