Describe and explain the shape and bond angle of ammonia

So firstly, we need to work out the basic shape of the molecule which we can do by drawing the lewis structure (dot and cross diagram) and counting the number of charge clouds around the central atom. In the case of ammonia there are 4 charge clouds (3 bonding pairs and 1 lone pair) so the basic shape of ammonia is tetrahedral and the bond angle is 109.5 degrees.
However, as you can see there are 3 bonding pairs (nitrogen bonded to hydrogen) and one lone pair of electrons (unpaired electrons on the nitrogen). The lone pairs distort the shape of the molecule because they're closer to the nitrogen and therefore repel more than bonding pairs of electrons. So the bonding pairs of electrons are pushed as far apart as possible in order to minimise repulsion. Therefore, the actual shape is trigonal pyramidal with a bond angle of 107 degrees.

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

The Haber process is used to manufacture ammonia. Explain the optimum conditions for this reaction and why these conditions may not be used in industry


What would the ideal conditions for the Haber process (nitrogen + hydrogen to ammonia) be? Why are the ideal conditions not used in industry?


For the following reaction, you obtained 7.2 g of sodium sulfate, starting from 10 g of sulfuric acid. Sodium hydroxide is in excess. What is the % yield? H2SO4 + 2NaOH → Na2SO4 + 2H2O


What is an empirical formula and how do I calculate it?