Which term describes the diagram showing an element's symbol with surrounding dots to represent electrons?

• A. Electron dot diagram
• B. Ion
• C. Polyatomic ions
• D. Chemical bond

Answer: (A)

This diagram is a way to visualize an element’s valence electrons. The element’s symbol sits in the center and dots surround it, with each dot representing one valence electron. This layout helps you see how many electrons the atom has to gain, lose, or share to reach a stable configuration. That makes it a simple electron dot diagram (often called a Lewis dot diagram). It’s not showing an ion, which would be charged, nor a polyatomic ion, which is a group of atoms with a charge, and it’s not depicting a chemical bond, which is the connection between atoms in a molecule. The dots around a single symbol focus on the electrons of that one atom.