Chemical Bonding: H₂Se Lewis Structure

Drawing the Lewis Structure for H₂Se

Viewing Notes:

• The Lewis structure for H₂Se is similar to H₂O. This is because both Selenium and Oxygen are in the same group and have the same number of valence electrons (6).
• For the H₂Se Lewis structure there are a total of 8 valence electrons available.

Transcript: This is Dr. B. Let's do the Lewis structure for H2Se. On the periodic table, Hydrogen is in group 1, so it has one valence electron, but we have two of them, so we're going to multiply it by 2; plus Se is in group 6 or 16, it has 6 valence electrons. We have a total of 8 valence electrons that we're going to work with here. So we know that Hydrogen always goes on the outside of a Lewis structure, so we can put the Se right in the center, and let's just put the Hydrogens on either side of that.

OK, so we have that. Let's make some chemical bonds. We have 8 valence electrons so we'll put two right here. So we've formed chemical bonds between the Hydrogen and the Se. Also note, Hydrogen only needs two valence electrons to have a full outer shell, so Hydrogen actually has its octet satisfied right now. We have four more. Let's put them right here. And that means that Se has 8. So it's good. Its outer shell is full, as well.

So that's the Lewis structure for H2Se. Pretty simple. This is Dr. B., and thanks for watching.