Sapling #2-Formal Charge

[Emma Strassner 1J]

Hi, how would you find the formal charge for C03^2-? For the sapling platform does it go on the central atom?

[Ashlen Bullock 1H]

You would find the formal charge by finding the formal charge of each element. It does not go on the central atom. In this case, the two oxygens that only have one carbon bond are each assigned a -1 charge. You know this by calculating the formal charge of the oxygen using the equation FC= V- (S/2+L). In this case, it would be 6-(2/2+6)=-1. You can check the formal charge by adding up the formal charges on each element. In this case, -1 + -1 + 0 + 0 = -2. Remember that the charge on the CO3 is -2. Hope this helps!

[Angel More]

You find formal charge using this formula:

Formal Charge of Atom = Valence Electrons of Atom - # of Lone Electrons on Atom - # bonded electrons with Atom/2.
- Valence Electrons of Atom - found using the periodic table of elements
- # of Lone Electrons on Atom - these are the lone individual electrons
- # bonded electrons with Atom/2 - each line represents 2 electrons bonded and formula calls for you to divide the number of electrons by 2. a simple way to do
this is count the number of lines the atom has coming off of it

FC of C = 4 - 0 - 4 = 0
- C has 4 valence electrons
- there were no lone individual electrons
- C has 4 lines coming off of it
- there is no charge on C

FC of O (double bonded to C) = 6 - 4 - 2 = 0
- O has 6 valence electrons
- there were 4 lone individual electrons
- O has 2 lines coming off of it
- there is no charge on O (double bonded to C)

FC of O (single bonded to C) = 6 - 6 - 1 = -1
- O has 6 valence electrons
- there were 6 lone individual electrons
- O has 1 lines coming off of it
- there is a negative charge on O (single bonded to C) so you would indicate on the lewis dot structure that there is a negative change on this atom.

FC of O (single bonded to C) = 6 - 6 - 1 = -1
- O has 6 valence electrons
- there were 6 lone individual electrons
- O has 1 lines coming off of it
- there is a negative charge on O (single bonded to C) so you would indicate on the lewis dot structure that there is a negative change on this atom.

[Emma Strassner 1J]

That makes sense, thank you so much!