1. Draw the Lewis Structure
* Carbon (C) has 4 valence electrons.
* Oxygen (O) has 6 valence electrons.
The Lewis structure of CO2 is:
O = C = O
2. Count Bonding Electrons
* Each double bond consists of 4 bonding electrons (2 from each atom).
* There are two double bonds in CO2, so there are 4 * 2 = 8 bonding electrons.
3. Count Nonbonding Electrons
* Each oxygen atom has two lone pairs (2 * 2 = 4 electrons).
* With two oxygen atoms, there are 4 * 2 = 8 nonbonding electrons.
Therefore, CO2 has 8 bonding electrons and 8 nonbonding electrons.
