Biology Forums - Study Force

These are questions for a pre-lab and I do not understand how to do these at all. I talked to the teacher and he only gave me the definitions and told me to think about what it is asking for. Thanks for the help!!!

1.  Ozone absorbs ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere thus protecting us from sunburn.  Down at ground level however, ozone is a pollutant which can damage your lungs when you breathe it in.  The damage is a result of its great reactivity.  Draw the two resonance structures possible for ozone (O3) and indicate any nonzero formal charges that are present.  Use the resonance structures to explain the great reactivity of ozone.

2.  When internal combustion engines take in air to burn their fuel, they also take in nitrogen gas, which burns along with the fuel, producing nitrogen dioxide (NO2).  The nitrogen dioxide is a pollutant and is responsible for the brown color associated with smog.  Like ozone (above), it is very reactive, and in fact exists in equilibrium with its dimer (the result of two identical molecules coming together to form one) dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4).  Draw resonance structures of both nitrogen dioxide and its dimer dinitrogen tetroxide.   Use these structures to explain why nitrogen dioxide is so reactive, and also to explain why it so readily forms a dimer.

3.  Bromomethane (CH3Br) reacts with hydroxide ion (OH-1) to form methanol (CH3OH) and bromide ion (Br-1).  Draw Lewis structures of these molecules and ions to show how this reaction takes place.  Be sure to include any nonzero formal charges on your structures.  Suggest an explanation, based on your Lewis structures, for why this reaction takes place.  Remember that bonding and chemical interactions are all about electrical interactions.