1) the rule of an octet must always be satisfied. That being said,a carbon can have a maximum of 4 covalent bonds. 2) Think of a resonance bond as one full bond being kind of smeared between the atoms, in your example between two oxygens and a carbon atom. In that way, the rule of an octet is never broken. It is like one electron constantly going between these three atoms except it never actually stop at any of them, it just keeps going

1) the rule of an octet must always be satisfied. That being said,a carbon can have a maximum of 4 covalent bonds. 2) Think of a resonance bond as the bonds being kind of 'smeared' between all the atoms, much as shown in the figure as the dotted line between two oxygens and carbon. In that way, the rule of an octet is never broken.

1. the rule of an octet must always be satisfied. That being said,a carbon can have a maximum of 4 covalent bonds.
2. Think of a resonance bond as one full bond being kind of smeared between the atoms, in your example between two oxygens and a carbon atom. In that way, the rule of an octet is never broken. It is like one electron constantly going between these three atoms except it never actually stop at any of them, it just keeps going

1) the rule of an octet must always be satisfied. That being said,a carbon can have a maximum of 4 covalent bonds. 2) Think of a resonance bond as one full bond being kind of smeared between the atoms, in your example between two oxygens and a carbon atom. In that way, the rule of an octet is never broken. It is like one electron constantly going between these three atoms except it never actually stop at any of them, it just keeps going