formal charge

[Sisam Bhattarai 2C]

I was rewatching one of the lectures and the professor mentions the formal charge for oxygen has to have a negative charge, but not sulfate. Can someone please explain the reasoning behind this.

[Ava_Osborn_3I]

If you're refering to the sulfate molecule structure, yes the negative 2 charge is held in of the oxygen atoms, not the sulfur atom. This is due to the molecule being more stable and the formal charges being closer to 0 when the oxygens hold the charge.

[Jolene Robles 2H]

Hello,

When deciding what molecule to give the charge to, you would want to give it to an oxygen molecule because it like to be negative due to being on the right side of the periodic table and already have 7 valence electrons.