{"id":31558,"date":"2025-06-22T04:04:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T04:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=31558"},"modified":"2025-06-22T04:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T04:04:30","slug":"how-many-lone-pairs-of-electrons-are-on-the-central-atom-of-hcn-and-what-is-the-molecular-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/how-many-lone-pairs-of-electrons-are-on-the-central-atom-of-hcn-and-what-is-the-molecular-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"How many lone pairs of electrons are on the central atom of HCN and what is the molecular shape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How many lone pairs of electrons are on the central atom of HCN and what is the molecular shape? Group of answer choices: a. one, linear b. zero, bent c. one, trigonal planar d. one, bent e. zero, linear<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correct answer: e. zero, linear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine the number of lone pairs on the central atom and the molecular shape of HCN (hydrogen cyanide), we first analyze its <strong>Lewis structure<\/strong> and <strong>electron geometry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1: Determine the total number of valence electrons.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hydrogen (H) contributes <strong>1<\/strong> valence electron.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carbon (C) contributes <strong>4<\/strong> valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nitrogen (N) contributes <strong>5<\/strong> valence electrons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Total = 1 + 4 + 5 = 10 valence electrons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 2: Draw the skeletal structure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hydrogen can only form <strong>one bond<\/strong>, so it must be terminal. The most logical skeletal structure is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>H \u2014 C \u2014 N<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 3: Distribute electrons and form bonds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carbon makes <strong>a single bond with hydrogen<\/strong> and <strong>a triple bond with nitrogen<\/strong> to satisfy the octet rule. The structure becomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>H \u2014 C \u2261 N<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Carbon<\/strong> has <strong>four bonding electrons<\/strong> from the triple bond with nitrogen and <strong>two bonding electrons<\/strong> from the single bond with hydrogen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All electrons around carbon are involved in bonding, so carbon has <strong>no lone pairs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nitrogen has <strong>one lone pair<\/strong> of electrons after forming three bonds with carbon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hydrogen, with one bond, is also satisfied.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 4: Identify the central atom and molecular geometry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carbon is the <strong>central atom<\/strong>. It has <strong>two regions of electron density<\/strong> (one single bond to hydrogen and one triple bond to nitrogen). According to VSEPR (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion) theory, two regions of electron density will orient themselves <strong>180 degrees apart<\/strong> to minimize repulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This results in a <strong>linear molecular shape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Central atom (carbon) has <strong>zero lone pairs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The molecular geometry is <strong>linear<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the correct answer is: <strong>e. zero, linear<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner5-175.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31559\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner5-175.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner5-175-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner5-175-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner5-175-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How many lone pairs of electrons are on the central atom of HCN and what is the molecular shape? Group of answer choices: a. one, linear b. zero, bent c. one, trigonal planar d. one, bent e. zero, linear The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Correct answer: e. zero, linear Explanation: To determine the number [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31560,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31558\/revisions\/31560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}