What is the 3 step when writing covalent Lewis structures? Sketching your Skeleton Arranging your Pairs of Electrons into Bonds

## Step 1: Sketching your Skeleton<br />The first step in writing a covalent Lewis structure is to sketch the skeleton of the molecule. This involves drawing the atoms in the molecule and the bonds between them. The bonds are represented by lines, where each line represents a pair of shared electrons.<br /><br />## Step 2: Arranging your Pairs of Electrons into Bonds<br />The second step is to arrange the pairs of electrons into bonds. Each bond is represented by a line, and each line represents a pair of shared electrons. The number of bonds between atoms is determined by the number of electrons needed to complete the octet rule for each atom.<br /><br />## Step 3: Completing the Octet Rule<br />The third step is to complete the octet rule for each atom. This involves adding lone pairs of electrons to the atoms until each atom has a complete octet. If there are any remaining electrons, they are placed as lone pairs on the atoms.