Which type of formula best specifies how atoms bond in a molecule?

Answer 1

Molecular formulas or empirical formulas, simply counts the numbers of each sort of atom present in the molecule, but tells nothing about the way they are joined together.

For example, the empirical formula of Butane is C4H10, but no hint exist on how the atoms are bonded.

In order to code in some way in chemical formulas the type of bonds that are present in the considered molecule and their spatial orientation, different conventions have been defined.

Some of these conventions are quite articulated and count a lot of particular forms to indicate particular structures and spatial dispositions.

In general, all formulas that are not simple empirical formulas are called structural formulas.

Nevertheless there are various and quite different types of structural formulae that convey a different amount of information on the real structure of organic molecules.

Displayed formulas

The first, and simpler, type of structural formulas are the so called displayed formulas.

A displayed formula shows all the bonds in the molecule as individual lines. You need to remember that each line represents a pair of shared electrons.

For example, methane displayed formula can be written as follows

...H

....|

H-C-H

....|

....H

Notice that the way the methane is drawn contains no information about the actual shape of the molecule. This lack of information can lead to problems in cases in which the specific spatial position of the atoms is important.

Three Dimensional Structure Formulas

Only a correct representation of the spatial position of the atoms in an organic molecule renders a structural formula easy to read and remove completely ambiguity.

A first step to do that is to adopt a convention for representing spatial position of the bonds in the formula. The conventional symbols are defined by the UIPAC, the international standardization institute for chemistry. In order to understand as three dimensional formulas can be drawn, I suggest to consult a book of basic chemistry, since it results difficult to draw here the required diagrams.

Answer 2

The Lewis structure formula best specifies how atoms bond in a molecule. It shows how atoms are connected through shared pairs of electrons, as well as any lone pairs present on individual atoms. Lewis structures help illustrate the bonding patterns and overall arrangement of atoms within a molecule.

Answer 3

empirical