Use you knowledge of valence electrons and how they affect bonds to figure out how carbon (Group 14) and oxygen (Group 16) would be attached to one another. In carbon dioxide (CO2), how is the compound structured? (Use "-" to represent a single bond and "=" to represent a double bond.)

Question

A. O=C=O
B. C=O-O
C. O=C-O
D. C-O-O

Answer 1

To understand how carbon and oxygen bond in carbon dioxide (CO2), we first need to consider the valence electrons for each atom:

• Carbon (C) has 4 valence electrons (from Group 14).
• Oxygen (O) has 6 valence electrons (from Group 16).

In carbon dioxide, carbon is the central atom and needs to form two bonds with oxygen atoms to obey the octet rule (having 8 valence electrons around it). Each oxygen atom will also share electrons with carbon to fill its valence shell.

The most stable arrangement is for carbon to form double bonds with each oxygen atom. This satisfies the octet rule for both carbon and oxygen. Thus, the structure of carbon dioxide can be represented as:

O=C=O

So the correct answer is A. O=C=O.