How can I draw the Lewis structure for H2O?

You can find a procedure for at .

For H₂O, O must be the central atom

The skeleton structure is H-O-H.

O has 6 valence electrons, and each H has one.

You must arrange 8 electrons in pairs so that O has 8 and each H has two electrons in its valence shell.

The trial structure is

You have eight in your trial structure, so it has the correct number of electrons.

The trial structure has the correct number of electrons.

The formal charge on each atom is:

H = 1 - ½(2) = 0; O = 6 – 4 - ½(4) = 0

The Lewis structure of H₂O is