The Lewis structure for nitric oxide (NO) consists of one nitrogen atom bonded to one oxygen atom. To draw the Lewis structure, we begin by counting the total number of valence electrons available for bonding. Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons, and oxygen has 6, giving us a total of 11 valence electrons to work with.
In the Lewis structure, we place the nitrogen atom in the center and bond it to the oxygen atom. Given that both atoms need to share electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration, we can create a double bond between the nitrogen and oxygen. However, since there’s an odd number of total electrons (11), we cannot have an even bond configuration, so we create a single bond initially and then add an unpaired electron.
The final structure will have a single bond (2 shared electrons) between nitrogen and oxygen, with an unpaired electron on the nitrogen atom, making it a free radical. Thus, the Lewis structure for NO is represented as:
N • | O
In summary, nitric oxide has an unpaired electron, which makes it unique, and this is depicted in the Lewis structure with the single bond and the lone electron on nitrogen.