C3H6 (Propene) Lewis Structure in 3 Steps (With Images)

So you have seen the above image by now, right?

Let me explain the above image in short.

C3H6 (Propene) lewis structure has three Carbon atoms (C) at the center and they are surrounded by the Hydrogen atoms (H). It contains six C-H bonds, one C-C bond and one C=C bond.

If you haven’t understood anything from the above image of C3H6 lewis structure, then just stick with me and you will get the detailed step by step explanation on drawing a lewis structure of C3H6.

So let’s move to the steps of drawing the lewis structure of C3H6.

Steps of drawing C3H6 lewis structure

Step 1: Find the total valence electrons in C3H6 molecule

In order to find the total valence electrons in a C3H6 molecule, first of all you should know the valence electrons present in carbon atom as well as hydrogen atom.
(Valence electrons are the electrons that are present in the outermost orbit of any atom.)

Here, I’ll tell you how you can easily find the valence electrons of carbon as well as hydrogen using a periodic table.

Total valence electrons in C3H6 molecule

→ Valence electrons given by carbon atom:

Carbon is group 14 element on the periodic table. ^[1] Hence the valence electrons present in carbon is 4.

You can see the 4 valence electrons present in the carbon atom as shown in the above image.

→ Valence electrons given by hydrogen atom:

Hydrogen is group 1 element on the periodic table. ^[2] Hence the valence electron present in hydrogen is 1.

You can see that only 1 valence electron is present in the hydrogen atom as shown in the above image.

Hence, 

Total valence electrons in C3H6 molecule = valence electrons given by 3 carbon atom + valence electrons given by 6 hydrogen atoms = 4(3) + 1(6) = 18.

Step 2: Prepare the rough sketch

Lewis structure of propene (C3H6) has three carbon atoms in a row with one single bond and one double bond between the carbon atoms. The hydrogen atoms are attached with the carbon atoms forming a single bond.

Step 3: Check whether all the atoms are stable or not

In the above sketch of C3H6 molecule, you can see that the outer atoms are hydrogen atoms.

All the 6 hydrogen atoms are forming a duplet and hence they are stable.

Also the 3 carbon atoms form an octet, so they are also stable.

Hence the above lewis structure of Propene (C3H6) is a stable lewis structure.

In this lewis dot structure, you can also represent each bonding electron pair (:) as a single bond (|). By doing so, you will get the following lewis structure of C3H6.

I hope you have completely understood all the above steps.

For more practice and better understanding, you can try other lewis structures listed below.

Try (or at least See) these lewis structures for better understanding:

About author

Jay Rana

Jay is an educator and has helped more than 100,000 students in their studies by providing simple and easy explanations on different science-related topics. He is a founder of Pediabay and is passionate about helping students through his easily digestible explanations.

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