A ball-and-stick model of a molecule of formaldehyde, CH2O, is made from the following components:

Question

one black ball
one red ball
two white balls
three sticks
What do the sticks represent?
oxygen atoms
oxygen atoms

carbon atoms
carbon atoms

hydrogen atoms
hydrogen atoms

bonds between atoms

Answer 1

The sticks in the ball-and-stick model represent the bonds between atoms. In the case of formaldehyde (CH2O), there are three sticks to represent the bonds between the carbon and hydrogen atoms, and between the carbon and oxygen atoms.