Molecular Geometry Lab

Purpose: To use a traditional model kit to build a number of molecules with appropriate molecular
geometry as per VSEPR theory.

Apparatus: molecular model kits

Background Information:
Most of the balls in the molecular model kit have only one hole drilled in them. These are used
to model atoms that have only one connection to another atom where we can ignore the
disposition of any lone pairs. For example, your kit may have red balls, representing oxygen,
drilled with only two holes instead of four because the positions of the lone pairs have already
been taken into account. See Table 1 (below) for the correspondence between ball colour and
element.

Table 1:
Color Number of Holes Element Represented
White 1 Hydrogen
Green 1 Chlorine
Orange 1 Bromine
Purple 1 Iodine
Red 2 Oxygen
Yellow 2 Sulfur
Blue 4 Nitrogen
Black 4 Carbon
Brown 5 Element with an expanded octet
Silver 6 Element with an expanded octet

Note: Any colour may be used to represent any element not listed as long as the number of
bonds and the disposition of the lone pairs match. The stiff, gray connectors are used for single
bonds and the flexible, gray connectors are used for multiple bonds.

Procedure:
1. Draw Lewis dot structures for each species in table 2.
2. Predict the molecular geometry of each species using VSEPR.
3. Construct a molecular model, using the kit provided, for each species listed in table 2.
4. Verify that your predicted geometries are the same as what you obtain with the models.
Correct any errors in your table.
Table 2: Simple Lewis Dot Structures
Predicted Molecular Electron Pair Geometry
Species Lewis Dot Structure
Shape (linear, tetrahedral) (draw the VSEPR diagram)

F2

O2

N2

HF

CO

CO2

CH4

SiH4

NH3

PH3

H2O

H2S
Analysis & Conclusion:

1. Why can we ignore the disposition of the lone pairs on terminal atoms?

2. How does bonding change for O2, N2 and F2? How do you expect this to affect their chemistry? Why?

3. Compare the following structures where the central atoms are in the same group of the periodic table:
SiH4 and CH4
NH3 and PH3
H2O and H2S

What structural similarities do you see for the elements in the same group?