Answer to Question #240688 in General Chemistry for Mimi

Question

How does the written Lewis Structure for potassium chloride differ from that of hydrogen chloride?

Answer 1

The Lewis structure of HCl is shown as follows:

The Lewis structure of KCl is shown as follows:

The Lewis structures of both the compounds HCl and KCl are drawn by considering seven electrons in the outermost shell of chlorine and one electron in the outermost shell of hydrogen and potassium.

The Lewis structure of both the compounds is similar. The only difference is that the K - Cl bond involves the complete transfer of electrons, whereas the H - Cl bond involves the sharing of electrons.

The difference between the Lewis structures of HCl and KCl arises due to the difference in the electropositive nature of potassium and hydrogen. Potassium is an alkali metal and, hence, it can donate electrons to chlorine easily as compared to hydrogen, due to which KCl involves the complete transfer of electrons but HCl involves sharing of electrons.