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<center><b>Formal Charge</b></center><br> <i>Formal Charge is discussed in Zumdahl, Pg380.</i><br> <br> Using the rules to determine Lewis Dot Structures, there are some compounds or ions that could have more than one viable Lewis Dot Structure (not talking about Resonance structures. <br> <b>It usually occurs when you have elements that can exceed the Octet Rule and are the central atom.</b><br> <br> There can not be two viable Lewis Dot Structure for a compound/ion, therefore there must be a way to determine which structure is more correct. There is and it is called <b><nowiki>FORMAL CHARGE.</nowiki></b> Formal charge - the difference between the number of valence electrons on free atom and number of valence electrons assigned to the atom in a molecule (valence e- shared - valence assigned) *lone pairs belong entirely to the atom in question *shared pairs are divided equally *atoms try to achieve formal charges as close to zero as possible *negative formal charges go to the most electronegative element involved in the bond *the sum of all the formal charges on an ion or molecule equal the overall charge on the species *formal charges are only estimates - not actual charges - actual charges are determined experimentally <br> <br> Example: Pg381 in Zumdahl (the species in question is the sulfate ion)<br>
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