Chemical Bonding: Molecular Shapes!

New pictures! This one is of my dog, Fisher.

Molecular shapes can be hard to comprehend, mainly because there are so many! However, of the 8+ shapes the molecules can come in, there are only 6 that you have to really remember.

1.) Tetrahedral

http://people.uwplatt.edu/~sundin/images/vspr4.gif

This molecule is non-polar with 4 bonds. It is 3D and has depth.

2.) Trigonal Pyramidal

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Pyramidal-3D-balls.png

 This molecule is polar and has 3 bonds with a lone pair on top.

3.) Trigonal Planar

http://users.stlcc.edu/gkrishnan/vspr3.gif

This molecule structure is like trigonal pyramidal, except that the lone pair on top is missing. This makes the molecule "2D". This molecule is non-polar.

4.) Linear

http://www.ochempal.org/wp-content/images/D/dipolemoment9.png

This molecule is also "2D" but it is locked in a straight line. This molecule is non-polar. Usually there will be on lone pairs on the central atom.

5.) Bent

http://i.stack.imgur.com/xC0NU.jpg

This molecule is polar, and usually has a pair of lone electrons on top of it. It has only two bonds.

6.) Octahedral

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/@api/deki/files/860/=copper(II)_fluoride.jpg?revision=1

This molecule is non-polar and has 6 bonds. It is three dimensional, and has depth.

More help on this topic can be found here: http://intro.chem.okstate.edu/1314f00/lecture/chapter10/vsepr.html