By analogy, consider the case of a mule. A mule is the offspring of a horse and donkey. It has features similar to both, such as long tail and mane, but it does not rapidly interconvert between the two. A mule is not a horse one second, then a donkey the next. Drawing contributing resonance structures .
Resonance is an important feature of many organic molecules.
It can have a profound influence on their structure, chemical reactions, and physical properties. Key to understanding resonance is the ability to draw contributing resonance structures and the resonance hybrid structure. Resonance structures are simply alternate Lewis structures for a given ion or molecule. Thus we can draw all resonance structures by drawing all of the possible Lewis structures. However, it is not always easy to see what all these Lewis structures might be.