CH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Molecular Geometry, Trigonal Planar Molecular Geometry, Vsepr Theory

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CH 101
• Professor: John Mc Duffie

Document Summary

The taste of a food depends on the interaction between the food molecules and taste cells on your tongue. The main factors that affect this interaction are the shape of the molecule and charge distribution within the molecule. The food molecule must fit snugly into the active site of specialized proteins. Properties of molecular substances depend on the structure of the molecule. Lewis theory predicts there are regions of electrons in an atom. Some regions result from placing shared pairs of valence electrons between bonding nuclei. Other regions result from unshared pairs of electrons. Lewis theory says that these regions of electron groups should repel each other. Electron groups around the central atom will be most stable when they are as far apart as possible- we call this valence shell electron pair repulsion theory. Because electrons are negatively charged, they should be most stable when they are as separated as possible.