Examples of the manner in which VSEPR theory is applied to species in which there is no central atom are provided by ethane (C2H6), ethylene (C2H4), and acetylene (C2H2), the Lewis structures for which are, respectively, the following: In each case, consider the local environment of each carbon atom. In ethane there are four bonding pairs around each carbon atom, so every carbon atom is linked to its four neighbours (one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms) by a tetrahedral array of bonds. The bond angles in ethane are indeed all close to 109°. In ethylene each carbon atom possesses ...(100 of 27318 words)