Why Hydrogen can only share 1 pair of electrons?

1 Answer
Meave60
Dec 18, 2016

See the explanation.

Explanation:

The hydrogen atom has only one electron, which is its valence electron. It can only share what it has, which is a single electron. So when hydrogen atoms bond with other atoms, they can only form a single bond.

The following diagram shows the structural formula for hydrogen chloride. You can see that the hydrogen atom can form only one covalent bond with the chlorine atom.

![http://www.gcsescience.com/a29http://-covalent-bond-hydrogen-chloride-gas-molecule.htm](https://useruploads.socratic.org/VceyyuyYSeHiypLxNTAF_Hydrogen-Chloride-Molecule.gif)

The following diagram shows the structural formula for water, #"H"_2"O"#. The two hydrogen atoms are bonded to the oxygen atom by single bonds.

![http://www.gcsescience.com/a29http://-covalent-bond-hydrogen-chloride-gas-molecule.htm](https://useruploads.socratic.org/UgW7WrFyTlq81G4Rf9Ix_Water-Molecule.gif)

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