H2 Lewis Structure (With Steps & Images)

H2 (diatomic hydrogen) lewis structure has a single bond between both the Hydrogen atoms (H).

If you haven’t understood anything from the above image of H2 lewis structure, then just stick with me and you will get the detailed step by step explanation on drawing a lewis structure of H2.

So let’s move to the simple steps of drawing the lewis structure of H2.

Steps of drawing H2 lewis structure

Step 1: Find the total valence electrons in H2 molecule

In order to find the total valence electrons in H2 molecule, first of all you should know the valence electrons present in a single 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 hydrogen using a periodic table.

Total valence electrons in H2 molecule

→ Valence electrons given by hydrogen atom:

Hydrogen is group 1 element on the periodic table. ^[1] 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 H2 molecule = 1(2) = 2.

Step 2: Make a sketch

While making a rough sketch for any lewis structure, you have to remember that the atom which is less electronegative remains at the center.

Now here the given molecule is H2 (hydrogen). Both the atoms are same, so you can select any of the atoms as a center atom.

Step 3: Connect each atoms by putting an electron pair between them

Now in the H2 molecule, you have to put the electron pairs between both the hydrogen atoms (H).

This indicates that both the hydrogen (H) atoms are chemically bonded with each other in a H2 molecule.

Step 4: Make the atoms stable

Here in the sketch of H2 molecule, you can see that the hydrogen atoms are forming a duplet and hence they are stable.

Also, in step 1 we have calculated the total number of valence electrons present in the H2 molecule.

The H2 molecule has a total 2 valence electrons and both these valence electrons are used in the above sketch of H2. 

In the above lewis dot structure of H2, you can also represent each bonding electron pair (:) as a single bond (|). By doing so, you will get the following lewis structure of H2.

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:

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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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