Writing Lewis Structures for Covalent Compounds

1. Write the correct skeletal structure for the molecule.

• The skeletal structure shows the relative positions of the atoms and does not include electrons, but it must have the atoms in the correct positions.
• In nature, oxygen is the central atom, and the hydrogen atoms are terminal atoms (at the ends). The correct skeletal structure is H O H.
• The only way to absolutely know the correct skeletal structure for any molecule is to examine its structure
• in nature.