Colourful Solutions > Structure and bonding > Covalent bonding

Introduction

The shape of molecule (or ion) is the shape adopted by the atoms in a molecule (or ion) with respect to one another.

Confusion arises occasionally, because the shape adopted by the regions of electronic charge (electron domains) around an atom has to be known before determining the location of the atoms. Students confuse this electronic organisation with the molecular shape. In fact, they may be the same, but often they are not.

In Section 2.2