Chemical Bonding: SF₆ Lewis Structure

Drawing the Lewis Structure for SF₆

Viewing Notes:

• SF₆ is a Lewis structure with Sulfur (S) which can hold more than 8 valence electrons. Since there are seven Fluorine (F) atoms it will be necessary.
• The Lewis structure for SF₆ has 48 valence electrons available to work with.
• It's a good idea to check the formal charges for your SF₆ Lewis structure to make sure they are zero.

Transcript: Hi, this is Dr. B. Let's do the SF6 Lewis structure. On the periodic table, Sulfur: 6 valence electrons, plus Fluorine 7, but we have six of those. So 6 + 42 gives us 48 total valence electrons. Put the Sulfur at the center, and let's put some Fluorines around it here, we have 6 of them...4, 5, 6. Draw chemical bonds between the atoms, 1, 2, 3, and each of these represents two valence electrons. So I have six, I've used 12 valence electrons. We'll go around the outside, 14, 16, 18, and 48.

So you can check and see, each of the Fluorines now has 8 valence electrons. And the Sulfur, it has more than 8, but because it's in period 3, that's OK. It can hold more than 8. We've used all 48 valence electrons. All the outer atoms have their octets. Sulfur's OK. You could check the formal charges if you wanted to make sure that they worked out. They are all zero for this structure.

That's the SF6 Lewis structure. This is Dr. B., and thanks for watching.