Chemical Bonding: CBr₄ Lewis Structure

Drawing the Lewis Structure for CBr₄ (Carbon Tetachloride)

Viewing Notes:

• The Lewis structure for CBr₄ is similar to CCl₄. Since they are in the same Group on the periodic table they each have the same number of electrons (7) their structures are similar.
• The Carbon atom goes in the center of the Lewis structure since it is the least electronegative.
• For the CBr₄ Lewis structure there are a total of 32 valence electrons available.

Transcript: This is the CBr4 Lewis structure: Carbon Tetrabromide. Carbon is in group 4 or 14, so it has 4 valence electrons. Bromine in group 7 or 17, so it has 7, and we have 4 Bromines. So 4 plus 28 equals 32 total valence electrons. Carbon, that's the least electronegative, that'll go in the center; and on the outside we'll put the Bromine atoms. We'll put 2 electrons between atoms to form chemical bonds, and we've used 8.

And then we'll go around the outside and fill the octets for the Bromine until we've used 32 valence electrons. So we have 8, 10, 12, and 32. So we've used all 32 valence electrons. Each of the Bromines has 8 valence electrons, and the central Carbon has 8 valence electrons as well.

So this is the correct structure for CBr4. This is Dr. B.