AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A Lewis electron dot diagram (or electron dot diagram or a Lewis diagram or a Lewis structure) is a representation of the valence electrons of an atom that uses dots around the symbol of the element. The number of dots equals the number of valence electrons in the atom.

Detailed explanation-2: -Electron dot diagrams show the valence electrons for an atom. The dot diagrams are the same for each element in the representative element groups.

Detailed explanation-3: -A Lewis diagram shows how the valence electrons are distributed around the atoms in a molecule. Shared pairs of electrons are drawn as lines between atoms, while lone pairs of electrons are drawn as dots next to atoms.

Detailed explanation-4: -The element’s symbol is in the center of the dot diagram. The dots around the symbol represent the valence electrons. Notice how the dots are not in a circle around the symbol, but more of a box with up to two electrons on each side and, at the most, eight total valence electrons.