Phosphorus has five valence electrons and hydrogen has one valence electron. What would be the Lewis dot (electron dot) structure for the covalent compound phosphorus trihydride?

PH3 looks just like ammonia NH3 with a lone pair and 3 hydrogens in a pyramidal formation.

In PH3 the P has 3 bond pairs and 1 lone pair, (4 total pairs). The shape is called trigonal pyramidal (approximately tetrahedral minus one atom).

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BarrettArcher BarrettArcher · Answer 2 · 2019-06-17T11:48:24+02:00

Answer : The Lewis-dot structure of phosphorus trihydride is shown below.

Lewis-dot structure : It shows the bonding between the atoms of a molecule and it also shows the unpaired electrons present in the molecule.

The valence electrons are represented by 'dot'.

The given molecule is, phosphorus trihydride

As we know that phosphorous has '5' valence electrons and hydrogen has '1' valence electron.

Therefore, the total number of valence electrons in phosphorus trihydride, [tex]PH_3[/tex] = 5 + 3(1) = 8

According to Lewis-dot structure, there are 6 number of bonding electrons and 2 number of non-bonding electrons.

The Lewis-dot structure of phosphorus trihydride is shown below.