Question #3a8f2

1 Answer
anor277
Sep 1, 2017

Well, as with water, the electron pairs are arranged in a tetrahedron....

Explanation:

And thus, we got #6(O)*e + 3{H}*e-1*e# (to account for the positive charge, and we have to distribute 4 electron pairs around the central oxygen, #:stackrel(+)OH_3#; because oxygen has a share of only 5 valence electrons, (lone pair + 3 bonding electrons) is has a total electron count of 7 electron, with 2 inner core electrons; 7 electrons in total and therefore a formal positive charge.

So the symmetry descends to trigonal pyramidal, i.e. analogous to ammonia:

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