Question

How do you draw the Lewis structure for the molecule containing one C and four F atoms?

Answer 1

Four valence electrons on carbon, and 7 valence electrons on fluorine.

Explanation:

We have 32 valence electrons to distribute around 5 centres. And this gives 4 `C-F` bonds, and 3 lone pairs around each fluorine atom, i.e. 16 electron pairs as required.

Because there are FOUR regions of electron density around the central carbon atoms, VESPER predicts that the most stable geometry is tetrahedral with respect to carbon, with `/_F-C-F=109.5^@`. The electronic geometry around each fluorine atom would also be tetrahedral, but we have no handle here.