In many cases, following the steps for writing Lewis structures may lead to more than one possible molecular structure-different multiple bond and lone-pair electron placements or different arrangements of atoms, for instance.
The arrangement of atoms in a molecule or ion is called its molecular structure. N: 0 all three Cl atoms: 0 Using Formal Charge to Predict Molecular Structure Thus, we calculate formal charge as follows: Another way of saying this is that formal charge results when we take the number of valence electrons of a neutral atom, subtract the nonbonding electrons, and then subtract the number of bonds connected to that atom in the Lewis structure. The formal charge of an atom in a molecule is the hypothetical charge the atom would have if we could redistribute the electrons in the bonds evenly between the atoms. We can use the concept of formal charges to help us predict the most appropriate Lewis structure when more than one is reasonable. As we have seen, however, in some cases, there is seemingly more than one valid structure for a molecule.
Aleks calculating formal charge how to#
In the previous section, we discussed how to write Lewis structures for molecules and polyatomic ions.
Use formal charges to identify the most reasonable Lewis structure for a given molecule.Compute formal charges for atoms in any Lewis structure.By the end of this section, you will be able to:
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