Lewis Structure of H₃O⁺ with Lone pair of electron labelled as RED and formal charge labelled as BLUE.
Lewis Structure was drawn utilizing following steps,
Step 1: Count the Total Number of Valence Electrons,
Oxygen = 6
Hydrogen (3) = 3______
Total 9
- 1 (for one +ve charge
= 8
Step 2: Make the structure as;
Put Oxygen atom in center surrounded by Hydrogen atoms. Make a single bond between each H and oxygen atom and subtract 2 electrons per bond. Therefore,
Electrons left = 8 - 6 = 2
Step 3: Add remaining electrons to most electrnegative atom which is Oxygen in current case.
Step 4: Calculate Formal Charge on Oxygen using following formula,
Formal Charge = [# of valence e⁻s] - [e⁻s in lone pairs + # of bonding e⁻s]
Formal Charge = [6] - [2 + 6/2]
Formal Charge = 6 -5
Formal Charge = + 1
