HOF Lewis Structure in 6 Steps (With Images)

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

Let me explain the above image in short.

HOF lewis structure has an Oxygen atom (O) at the center which is surrounded by one Hydrogen atom (H) and one Fluorine atom (F). There is a single bond between the Hydrogen (H) & Oxygen (O) atom as well as between the Oxygen (O) & Fluorine (F) atom.

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

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

Steps of drawing HOF lewis structure

Step 1: Find the total valence electrons in HOF molecule

In order to find the total valence electrons in a HOF molecule, first of all you should know the valence electrons present in hydrogen atom, oxygen atom as well as fluorine 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, oxygen as well as fluorine using a periodic table.

Total valence electrons in HOF 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.

→ Valence electrons given by oxygen atom:

Oxygen is group 16 element on the periodic table. ^[2] Hence the valence electrons present in oxygen is 6.

You can see the 6 valence electrons present in the oxygen atom as shown in the above image.

→ Valence electrons given by fluorine atom:

Fluorine is group 17 element on the periodic table. ^[3] Hence the valence electron present in fluorine is 7.

You can see the 7 valence electrons present in the fluorine atom as shown in the above image.

Hence, 

Total valence electrons in HOF molecule = valence electrons given by 1 hydrogen atom + valence electrons given by 1 oxygen atom + valence electrons given by 1 fluorine atom = 1 + 6 + 7 = 14.

Step 2: Prepare the rough sketch

To draw the rough sketch of a HOF molecule, just look at its chemical formula only. You can see that there is an oxygen atom (O) at the center and it is surrounded by hydrogen atom (H) and fluorine atom (F) on either side.

So let’s draw a rough sketch for the same.

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

Now in the HOF molecule, you have to put the electron pairs between the hydrogen (H) & oxygen (O) atom and between the oxygen (O) & fluorine (F) atom.

This indicates that these atoms are chemically bonded with each other in a HOF molecule.

Step 4: Make the outer atoms stable. Place the remaining valence electrons pair on the central atom.

Now in this step, you have to check the stability of the outer atoms.

Here in the sketch of HOF molecule, you can see that the outer atoms are hydrogen atom and fluorine atom.

These hydrogen and fluorine atoms are forming a duplet and octet respectively and hence they are stable. 

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

The HOF molecule has a total 14 valence electrons and out of these, only 10 valence electrons are used in the above sketch.

So the number of electrons which are left = 14 – 10 = 4.

You have to put these 4 electrons on the central oxygen atom in the above sketch of HOF molecule.

Now let’s proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Check the octet on the central atom

In this step, you have to check whether the central oxygen atom (O) is stable or not.

In order to check the stability of the central oxygen (O) atom, we have to check whether it is forming an octet or not.

You can see from the above picture that the oxygen atom is forming an octet. That means it has 8 electrons.

And hence the central oxygen atom is stable.

Now let’s proceed to the final step to check whether the lewis structure of HOF is stable or not.

Step 6: Check the stability of lewis structure

Now you have come to the final step in which you have to check the stability of lewis structure of HOF.

The stability of lewis structure can be checked by using a concept of formal charge.

In short, now you have to find the formal charge on hydrogen (H) atom, oxygen (O) atom as well as fluorine (F) atom present in the HOF molecule.

For calculating the formal charge, you have to use the following formula;

Formal charge = Valence electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 – Nonbonding electrons

You can see the number of bonding electrons and nonbonding electrons for each atom of HOF molecule in the image given below.

For Hydrogen (H) atom:
Valence electron = 1 (because hydrogen is in group 1)
Bonding electrons = 2
Nonbonding electrons = 0

For Oxygen (O) atom:
Valence electrons = 6 (because oxygen is in group 16)
Bonding electrons = 4
Nonbonding electrons = 4

For Fluorine (F) atom:
Valence electron = 7 (because fluorine is in group 17)
Bonding electrons = 2
Nonbonding electrons = 6

From the above calculations of formal charge, you can see that the hydrogen (H) atom, oxygen (O) atom as well as fluorine (F) atom have a “zero” formal charge.

This indicates that the above lewis structure of HOF is stable and there is no further change in the above structure of HOF.

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

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.

Read more about our Editorial process.