How many lone pairs are there in co2 ?

1 Answer
David Drayer
May 2, 2018

4

Explanation:

Each Oxygen forms two bonds with Carbon

Oxygen has an electron configuration of
# 1s^2 2s^2 2p^4#

This means that there are two p electrons that can form the double bond with Carbon. This leaves the 2s^2 and 1 2p^2 orbitals that are pairs of electrons that are not being used for bonding

So each Oxygen has two pairs of unbinding electrons and there are 2 Oxygen atoms in the #CO_2# molecule. This makes a total of four pairs of unbonded electrons.

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