The atomic number of sulfur is 16. Sulfur combines with hydrogen by covalent bonding to form a compound, hydrogen sulfide. Based on the number of valence electrons in a sulfur atom, predict the molecular formula of the compound.
a. HS
b. HS₂
c. H₂S
d. H₄S

Question

The atomic number of sulfur is 16. Sulfur combines with hydrogen by covalent bonding to form a compound, hydrogen sulfide. Based on the number of valence electrons in a sulfur atom, predict the molecular formula of the compound.
a. HS
b. HS₂
c. H₂S
d. H₄S

a. HS

b. HS₂

c. H₂S

d. H₄S

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone in today's video, we have a very simple problem involving determining the chemical formula of money. A given the atomic number of nitrogen. So let's jump straight into inner problem. We're told that nitrogen has an atomic number of seven. So what does it mean for nitrogen to have an atomic number of seven? Well, it means that a nitrogen atom has seven protons and seven electrons. Then we're told that nitrogen conveniently bonds to hydrogen to form ammonia, hydrogen, on the other hand, has an atomic number of one. So it means that it has one proton and one electron. So the key element in this problem is that we need to use the valence electrons of nitrogen in order to understand the chemical formula of the money. I want you to recall how to determine the number of valence electrons in a nitrogen atom. Well, one way to do this is to look at the corresponding noble gas of the element. In this case the correspondent noble gas of nitrogen is helium. A helium atom has two electrons. Since the helium atom has two electrons, nitrogen will have two core electrons and five valence On the other hand, because of its position in the periodic table, A hydrogen ion does not have any corresponding noble gasses so that one electron belonging to hydrogen will be a valence electrons. Now that we have been able to determine the number of valence electrons in each element that start to use this to determine the chemical formula of ammonia. So there is a trick that we can use to determine this and we will start by drawing out a nitrogen atom. So we have established that nitrogen has five valence electrons surrounding its nucleus. So let's draw this out. There will be one, 2, 34 and five valence electrons surrounding its nucleus. And as we can see, nitrogen will have one lone pair and three free electrons. And these three electrons will be used for bonding. So nitrogen will form bonds out of these three free electrons, which will bond co violently to a hydrogen atom, which as we can see, it has one valence electrons that is free and can be used for bonding. So nitrogen can bond up to three atoms in order to occupy all three free electrons. And the molecular formula of this Lewis structure is NH three, which is answer choice C. So, thank you very much for sticking around until the end of this video. I really hope it helped you.

The atomic number of sulfur is 16. Sulfur combines with hydrogen by covalent bonding to form a compound, hydrogen sulfide. Based on the number of valence electrons in a sulfur atom, predict the molecular formula of the compound.
a. HS
b. HS₂
c. H₂S
d. H₄S

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Atomic Number and Valence Electrons

Covalent Bonding

Molecular Formula Prediction

The atomic number of sulfur is 16. Sulfur combines with hydrogen by covalent bonding to form a compound, hydrogen sulfide. Based on the number of valence electrons in a sulfur atom, predict the molecular formula of the compound. a. HS b. HS2 c. H2S d. H4S

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Atomic Number and Valence Electrons

Covalent Bonding

Molecular Formula Prediction

The atomic number of sulfur is 16. Sulfur combines with hydrogen by covalent bonding to form a compound, hydrogen sulfide. Based on the number of valence electrons in a sulfur atom, predict the molecular formula of the compound.
a. HS
b. HS₂
c. H₂S
d. H₄S