In the Lewis structure of carbon dioxide CO2 , there are a total of 16 valence electrons involved in the chemical bonding. Carbon has 4 valence electrons, and each oxygen atom has 6 valence electrons. The molecule consists of one carbon atom double bonded to two oxygen atoms O=C=O . Each double bond consists of 4 electrons 2 pairs , so there are 8 electrons 4 pairs involved in the double bonds, and the remaining 8 electrons 4 pairs are distributed as lone pairs on the oxygen atoms.