Shapes of molecules

The electron pair repulsion theory
The shape of a molecule or ion is governed by the arrangement of the electron pairs around the central atom. All you need to do is to work out how many electron pairs there are at the bonding level, and then arrange them to produce the minimum amount of repulsion between them. You have to include both bonding pairs and lone pairs.

Remember this:

Greatest repulsion

lone pair - lone pair

lone pair - bond pair

bond pair - bond pair

Least repulsion

[[Media:Shape.pdf|Click here]] to download the notes on shape of molecule

[[Media:Shapes.pdf|Click here]] to have a summary sheet showing the main shapes adopted by molecules

The animations
To view animations of the shape of molecules click on the name:

or else click in the link [| here]


 * [[media:Ax2e2.gif|The linear shape]]
 * The trigonal planar shape
 * The trigonal pyramidal shape
 * [[media: Ax4.gif|The tetrahedral shape]]
 * The V-shape
 * The pyramidal shape
 * The square planar shape