{"id":40999,"date":"2025-06-28T03:28:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T03:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=40999"},"modified":"2025-06-28T03:28:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T03:28:58","slug":"draw-the-lewis-dot-structure-of-pf3-which-atom-is-at-the-center-of-the-molecule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/draw-the-lewis-dot-structure-of-pf3-which-atom-is-at-the-center-of-the-molecule\/","title":{"rendered":"Draw the Lewis dot structure of PF3 Which atom is at the center of the molecule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Draw the Lewis dot structure of PF3 Which atom is at the center of the molecule? b. Is there any lone pair on the central atom? What is the shape of the molecule? d. Is there any resonance hybrid? What is the formal charge of the phosphorus atom?<\/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<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lewis Dot Structure of PF\u2083:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Structure:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">rCopyEdit<code>       F\n       |\nF \u2014 P \u2014 F\n       |\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Phosphorus (P) is at the center.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Three fluorine (F) atoms are bonded to phosphorus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Phosphorus also has one lone pair of electrons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">a. <strong>Central Atom<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The central atom is <strong>Phosphorus (P)<\/strong> because phosphorus is less electronegative than fluorine, so it is placed at the center, with the more electronegative fluorine atoms arranged around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">b. <strong>Lone Pairs on Central Atom<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, there is <strong>one lone pair<\/strong> on the central phosphorus atom. Phosphorus has five valence electrons, and three are used to form bonds with three fluorine atoms, leaving two electrons (one lone pair) on phosphorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">c. <strong>Shape of the Molecule<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The shape of PF\u2083 is <strong>trigonal pyramidal<\/strong>. This is due to the presence of three bonding pairs and one lone pair on phosphorus. According to the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory, lone pairs repel more strongly than bonding pairs, which causes the molecule to adopt a trigonal pyramidal geometry to minimize repulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">d. <strong>Resonance Hybrid<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>No, there is <strong>no resonance hybrid<\/strong> in PF\u2083. Resonance occurs when multiple valid Lewis structures can be drawn by shifting electrons or bonds. In PF\u2083, the positions of the atoms and electrons are fixed, so only one valid structure exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">e. <strong>Formal Charge of Phosphorus Atom<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The formal charge (FC) is calculated as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FC = Valence electrons &#8211; (Lone pair electrons + \u00bd Bonding electrons)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For phosphorus in PF\u2083:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Valence electrons = 5<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lone pair electrons = 2<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bonding electrons = 6 (each P-F bond has 2 electrons, total of 3 bonds)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FC = 5 &#8211; (2 + 6 \u00f7 2) = 5 &#8211; (2 + 3) = 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the formal charge on phosphorus is <strong>zero<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>PF\u2083 has phosphorus at the center, one lone pair on the central atom, a trigonal pyramidal shape, no resonance structures, and the formal charge on phosphorus is zero. The structure follows standard VSEPR predictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"852\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1296.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1296.jpeg 852w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1296-250x300.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1296-768x923.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Draw the Lewis dot structure of PF3 Which atom is at the center of the molecule? b. Is there any lone pair on the central atom? What is the shape of the molecule? d. Is there any resonance hybrid? What is the formal charge of the phosphorus atom? The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Lewis [&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-40999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40999","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=40999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41001,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40999\/revisions\/41001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}