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Lewis Structures

  • 30-08-2011 12:21pm
    #1
    Morgase
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 737 ✭✭✭


    I hope it's ok to ask a question here about Lewis structures. I've googled like a good thing to no avail.

    I'm looking at ferric bromide FeBr3 and cannot fathom how many valence electrons the central Fe has. I'm ok with s and p block elements but this has me confused.

    Reason I'm asking is that I'm looking at the reaction of bromine Br2 with FeBr3, and my textbook shows no unpaired electrons on the central Fe which seems to imply that it has 3 valence electrons, although I'm counting 8 valence electrons for Fe. Where on earth does that 3 come from?

    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/94/febr3.jpg/


Comments

  • #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 3,505 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I could be completely wrong, chemistry's my weak point.

    Fe has two s orbital electrons, 6 p orbital electrons. So treat the p electrons as the valence electrons only as the s electrons are shielded.

    So Fe has 6 valence electrons.

    Another point to clarify is that the Br2 isn't split in half and sent to the Fe. It's split into Br+ and Br-, with the Br+ going to Fe whereby both the electrons in the bond came from Fe.


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