Formal Charge
Moderators: Chem_Mod, Chem_Admin
-
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:00 am
Formal Charge
Can someone explain formal charge to me? 1) how do you determine the formal charge of an atom? I've seen different methods for it, but which is best? 2) what does this value tell you about the molecule? Thank you!
-
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:00 am
Re: Formal Charge
1. In order to find the formal charge, you can follow the formula
formula charge = # of valence electrons - # of bonds - non-bonded e's
If you can find the Lewis structure of the molecule, then finding the formal charge should be simple.
2. Formula charge tells us what charge an atom has within a molecule. This is important because since molecules can have multiple Lewis structures, formal charge is used in order to find which structure is the most stable, which is the standard structure.
formula charge = # of valence electrons - # of bonds - non-bonded e's
If you can find the Lewis structure of the molecule, then finding the formal charge should be simple.
2. Formula charge tells us what charge an atom has within a molecule. This is important because since molecules can have multiple Lewis structures, formal charge is used in order to find which structure is the most stable, which is the standard structure.
-
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:00 am
Re: Formal Charge
Formal Charge of an atom tells you the gain or loss of electron(s) while forming a covalent bond. The formula for determining formal charge (F.C.) = V - (L+S/2). V represents the # of valence electrons of the element. L is the # of lone pairs of the element. and S is the # shared bonding pairs of electrons of an electron. This formula can be found on page 6 of Ch.3 of the course-reader.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests