| Themes > Science > Chemistry > Inorganic Chemistry > Chemical Bonding > Resonance |
Resonance is when there is more than one possible Lewis Structure for the molecule. An example of this is NO3, where we have two single N-O bonds and one double N-O bond. It is not specified which oxygen atom the double bond corresponds to so drawing the Lewis Structures can be tricky. Now to draw these structures, you draw the possible Lewis Structures in parenthesis. In this situation, the bond energy is calculated differently as well. In the NO3 molecule, we do not calculate the bonds as two single N-O bonds and a double N-O bond, instead, it's referred to as three 1 and 1/3 single N-O bonds, an extra third of a bond for every Oxygen. |
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