Resonance Structures and Formal charges
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Resonance Structures and Formal charges
What is the relationship between resonance structures and Formal charges? How does one relate to the other?
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
Lewis structures incorporate an atom's formal charge, which is the charge on an atom in a molecule, assuming that electrons in a chemical bond are shared equally between atoms. When multiple Lewis structures can represent the same compound, the different Lewis formulas are called resonance structures.
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
Resonance structures are just different, equally stable, Lewis structures for an atom, so they all have the same charge!
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
The formal charge is used to discover the most stable Lewis structure. That structure will have the least number of formal charges not equal to zero. Resonance structure represents the various locations of the electron pairs. The electron can go back and forth between atoms.
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
I thought this site explains the relationship between resonance structures and formal charges well. It also goes really in-depth with well-explained examples.
https://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physic ... /Resonance
https://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physic ... /Resonance
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
So if there are multiple different ways to draw a molecule, where each as a different formal charge (like the examples in class), are these not resonance?
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
So for our upcoming tests, the only acceptable lewis structures are those with a formal charge of 0?
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Re: Resonance Structures and Formal charges
Not all most stable Lewis structures have a formal charge of 0. Most stable Lewis structures minimize the number of formal charges.
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