How does hydronium (H3O+) form when the valence electron shell of water it already full of 8 electrons?
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Science Whiz
ANSWERS: 1
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Easy. H+ doesn't have any electrons, so you can stick them on anything that does have a a complete set of 8 and they will share 2 electrons of those 8. Water only has one such atom, oxygen, so that's where the H+ sits. Once it is on you can't see which of the three hydrogens was the original H+ so you have the symmetrical H3O+ ion.
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