Question

What is the electron dot diagram for an oxygen atom?

Answer 1

See below.

Explanation:

Now, this is only one way we can draw the electron dot diagram for Oxygen. So as you may of remember from Chemistry class, before it can pair up on any other sides, it needs to have 1 electron per side of the letter then it can double up. Oxygen has a special rule when doubling. It must be adjacent like shown below.

Answer 2

Refer to the explanation.

Explanation:

The electron dot diagram for an element shows the valence electrons for the element. Oxygen is in group 16/VIA, so it has six valence electrons.

Draw the symbol for oxygen. Then place one dot at each side of the symbol. There are now four unpaired electrons around the oxygen symbol. There are also two more valence electrons and they are paired with two of the unpaired electrons. This will give you one pair of electrons on two sides of the symbol, and the other two sides will each have an unpaired electron.