Do each and every resonant structures contribute to a resonance hybrid?


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> There can be many resonating forms for a compound. It is to be noted that they are not in any equilibrium to each other. **Each and every structure will contribute to the ultimate hybrid, according to their stability.** The most important point is that **resonating hybrid is not a mixture of the resonating structures, but rather an intermediate of them.**
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This is what my book writes. But if it is intermediate, it must contain at least some properties of each and every structure. Now, one structure has no charge, while other structure has one positive charge and one negative charge. In the final structure, it still contains both the charges. So, how can it be an intermediate as it got no contribution from the first?




You can understand the relationship between the resonating forms for a compound and the ultimate hybrid by comparing it with the relationship between the different projections of a vector on the three coordinate axes and the vector itself. None of the projection can lonely represent the vector. But all of them can define the vector precisely in the space. Each projection contributes in defining the modulus of the vector according to its own value.


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