Complete the following for the compound CCl4: A) State its number of valence electrons B) Draw its Lewis structure C) Describe its VSEPR shape

A) Number of Valence Electrons:

CCl₄ consists of one carbon (C) atom and four chlorine (Cl) atoms. Carbon has 4 valence electrons, and each chlorine atom has 7 valence electrons. Therefore, the total number of valence electrons can be calculated as follows:
4 (from C) + 4 × 7 (from Cl) = 4 + 28 = 32 valence electrons.

B) Lewis Structure:

To draw the Lewis structure for CCl₄, we start by placing carbon in the center because it is less electronegative than chlorine. Each chlorine atom will be bonded to the central carbon atom through single bonds. The remaining electrons will complete the octets of the chlorine atoms. The structure looks like this:

C       Cl
  |     //  |
 Cl - C - Cl
  |     //  |
       Cl

This Lewis structure shows that carbon is bonded to four chlorine atoms.

C) Describe its VSEPR Shape:

According to the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory, the shape of a molecule is determined by the repulsion between electron pairs around a central atom. In CCl₄, we have four bonding pairs of electrons and no lone pairs on the carbon atom. This arrangement will result in a tetrahedral shape to minimize repulsion. The bond angles in a perfect tetrahedron are approximately 109.5 degrees.