single bonds, double, triple?

Question

whats the difference between single bonds, double bonds, and tripple bonds? and one unshared, two unshared, 3 unshared pairs of electrons? or shared? im so confused. i reasearched it online already and don't understand. can someone explain it to me? like how can a triple bond exist. you cant have 3 dots on the same side on lewis dot diagrams. i thought when you draw them you put one dot at a time up to 8 dots, so the most one could have is a double shared bond? like N2 is a triple but how? help?

Answer 1

Its is very confusing, but you have to remember that a lewis dot structure is a 2D diagram. chemistry is really in 3D. A single bond is when you have one pair of electrons shared between two atoms. A double bond is when you have two pairs of electrons shared between two atoms. A triple bond is 3 pairs. For the purposes of most chemistry, an atom can only have 8 electrons in the valence shell (so 4 pairs of electrons). In a lewis dot structure, you draw two dots on each side of the 2D square. However, it really forms a 3D structure, its called a tetrahedral structure. Now, when a single bond forms, you still have a tetrahedral structure, but instead of 4 sets of unshared electrons, you have 3 unshared electron pairs and a single bond . When you form a double bond, the 3D structure changes. It is hard to explain, but here is a picture . As you can see, its in 3D, the single bond is still the same, but the double bond (also called a pi bond) forms a red half and a blue half that are above and below the single bond. Now, you have two pairs of shared electrons and two pairs of unshared electrons. The structure is called trigonal planar because its flat, and forms a triangle.



For a triple bond, you add another pi bond that is 90 degrees offset from your double bond. now you have a linear structure with 3 shared pairs of electrons and one unshared pair of electrons http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Chem/Chem103Lkdl/consider/consider5_files/image039.gif.



NOTE: all of the pictures have H, but pretend that the H is really a pair of unpaired electrons. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

What Is A Single Bond

Answer 3

The dots around each atom represent its valence electrons. In covalent molecules, these are 'shared' between the atoms that are joined together. Asingle bond is formed when one electron from each atom is shared. A double bond involves the sharing of two electrons from each atom. A triple bond involves the sharing of three electrons from each atom. This 'sharing' takes place so that each atom can gain a share in a stable electron structure (ie a filled outer energy level). eg. In a molecule of CO2, C has 4 valence electrons Each O has 6 valence electrons The central C atom shares TWO of its valence electrons with each of the O atoms (ie. a double bond to each of them). The C then has a share in 8 valence electrons and each O has a share in 8 valence electrons So, the atoms have gained stability by forming the compound O=C=O In the nitrate ion (NO3-), the central nitrogen, with 5 valence electrons, forms double bonds to two of the oxygen atoms and a single bond to the third oxygen. This last oxygen has also been given 1 electron (by, eg. a Na atom which would then have become a Na+ ion).

Answer 4

RE:

single bonds, double, triple?

whats the difference between single bonds, double bonds, and tripple bonds? and one unshared, two unshared, 3 unshared pairs of electrons? or shared? im so confused. i reasearched it online already and don't understand. can someone explain it to me? like how can a triple bond exist. you cant...