zero charge

[Bethel Tesfamicael]

does a zero formal charge mean that atom is neutral charge or does that mean that there is a more stable structure with no charges or little to no charges?

[Elisabeth Atwater 2D]

Zero formal charge means that the atom in that specific arrangement of atoms and bonds has a charge of 0. It doesn't mean that there are other structures with less formal charges. There could be, but an atom having a formal charge of 0 doesn't indicate that there are more stable structures in a different arrangement of bonds.

[Brandon Li]

When talking about formal charges, think about it in two different ways: the formal charge of EACH atom in a compound (ex: Formal charge of the C in CO3 2- is zero, but the formal charge of two of the oxygen atoms is -1) and the overall charge of the entire compound, which you get by summing up the formal charge of all atoms within the molecule (ex: In CO3 2-, the overall charge is 2- because of the formal charges of the O atoms, meaning there are 2 extra electrons in the entire atom).

We always want a formal charge of zero in the atoms of molecules, as that indicates that the atom in question is in its most stable state, which is also why finding lewis structures is a whole process.

Hope this helped