In carbon dioxide (CO2), there are two oxygen atoms for each carbon atom. Each oxygen atom forms a double bond with carbon, so the molecule contains two sets of double bonds.

Question

Two sets of double bonds means that the total number of electrons being shared in the molecule is

two.
four.
six.
eight.

Answer 1

In a double bond, two pairs of electrons are shared between the atoms involved. In the case of carbon dioxide (CO2), each carbon atom forms a double bond with each of the two oxygen atoms.

Since there are two double bonds in CO2, we can calculate the total number of electrons being shared as follows:

• Each double bond involves 4 electrons (2 pairs).
• Therefore, for 2 double bonds, the total number of shared electrons is 2 (double bonds) × 4 (electrons per double bond) = 8 electrons.

So, the total number of electrons being shared in the molecule is eight.