Resonance (chemistry)

Resonance in chemistry is a tool used to represent and model certain types of non-classical molecular structures. Resonance is a key component of valence bond theory and arises when no single conventional model using only even number of electrons shared exclusively by two atoms can actually represent the observed molecule. There are two closely related but useful-to-distinguish meanings given to the term resonance. One of these has to do with diagrammatic representation of molecules using Lewis structures while the other has to do with the mathematical description of a molecule using valence bond theory. In both cases, resonance involves representing or modeling the structure of a molecule as an intermediate, average (a resonance hybrid) between several simpler but incorrect structures.
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