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Bonding - Breaking the octet rule


Miami Hussain

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Elements in period 3 onwards can exceed the octet rule.

In the case of XeF4, it has 36 valence electrons. The Xe atom forms 4 bonds with the F atoms and each F atom has an octet (8) electrons. 

So that's 4 x 8 = 32 electrons. 

36 - 32 = 4 electrons left over which make up two lone pairs on the Xe atom. 

So that makes 6 electron domains around the central atom (Xe), 4 bonding domains and 2 lone pairs of electrons.

The shape is square planar and the bond angle is 90 degrees. 

See this video for a full explanation:

https://youtu.be/JhJASNcL61o

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