More Practice Drawing Structural Formulas
Draw electron dot formulas for the following compounds and identify them as covalent
or ionic compounds.
1. oxygen gas: O2
2. hydrogen sulfide: H2S
3. hydrochloric acid: HCl
4. potassium chloride: KCl
5. potassium hydroxide: KOH
6. aluminum fluoride: AlF3
7. methanol: CH3OH
8. mercury sulfide: HgS
Now try drawing electron dot formulas of these structural formulas! Remember that a
line is a bond of two electrons, and two parallel lines are a double bond (4 atoms). Use
binder paper for your drawings.
H
H
H
H
H
H
Benzene: the junctions of the lines
are carbon (C) atoms
Now try drawing some polyatomic ions. Polyatomic means “many atoms”. So these ions
have more than one atom combined, unlike for example Na+, where the cation of sodium
is just one atom. Because they are ions they will have one or more positive (cation) or
negative (anion) charge. Don’t forget to make use of double bonds when it is the only
way to draw the structure!
1. ammonium: NH4+
3. nitrate:
NO3-
2. hydroxide: OH-
4. carbonate: CO32-
Calcium carbonate is a common mineral in limestone and the shells of many sea
creatures. Write the chemical formula and draw the electron dot formula for calcium
carbonate: CaCO3
Here are some more electron dot diagrams to draw.
5. nitrogen (g): N2
6. potassium bromide: KBr
7. sulfur dioxide: SO2
8. ethanol: C2H5OH