For the CH3+ Lewis structure we have four
valence electrons for Carbon, we have one
for Hydrogen, but we have three hydrogens,
and then this plus sign up here, that means
we've lost a valence electron.
So we have a total of 6 valence electrons
for CH3+, the Methylium Cation. With only
6 valence electrons we're not going to fulfill
the octet for Carbon. The best we can do is
just draw the Carbon and then put the Hydrogens around it.
We have 6 valence electrons, we'll put two
between the atoms to form chemical bonds,
so those Hydrogens will be attached to the Carbon.
And with that we've used all six valence electrons
for the CH3+ Lewis structure.
We'll put a plus sign next to the Carbon to
show that is a cation, it has a positive charge.
If we calculate the formal charges for CH3+
we'd see that the Carbon does have a +1 formal charge.
That makes sense since we have the
positive up here.
CH3+ probably isn't a very common molecule.
It's probably not very stable.
One last thing: we could write it like this
... to show how the Hydrogen atoms would
spread out in this molecule.
So that's the Lewis structure for CH3+. This
is Dr. B, thanks for watching.
