I have been revising Benzene, as you do, and I have discovered a problem. I need someone to explain to me, and am I right or confused?
Firstly, Benzene is a ring of 6 carbons with a hydrogen on each carbon.
Secondly, each carbon has 4 outer electrons. Therefore, one of these will bond with its hydrogen, one with the carbon to its left, and another electron to the carbon on its right. This should mean there is one electron left over.
I read up on it and it said that the extra electrons from each carbon are spread out evenly and are shared by all 6 carbon atoms in the ring... ok, so when you see the skeletal form of benzene the ring in the middle are these "extra" electrons? This is electron delocalisation.
That part I got, untill i started looking for pictures on google for benzene. My book originally explained that the "extra" electrons form the ring, and do NOT make three double bonds between the carbons instead. But, on google there where pictures of the skeletal formula (with the ring)
AND 3D models that had three double bonds (rather than a ring).
If you go onto google and search benzene you will understand, but now I'm confused to which is correct. I presume they both are but I don't understand how? Surely it's one or the other?
Please help me, anyone :-(