Formal Charge Meaning

[RichardValdez1L]

Is the main purpose of a formal charge on an atom to display whether it draws in electrons such as (-) from the atom connected to it in a Lewis Dot Structure?

[victoriatanaka1C]

Kind of...I think a formal charge of 0 means electrons are equally shared in covalent bonds. I'm not sure if that's the main purpose of formal charge though!

[octaviahuang1f]

I think it also indicates the electron distribution within a molecule. :)

[hannahtweedy]

Does that mean that formal charge and the dipole movement are related/similar concepts?

[Shimran Kumar 1C]

I think they are related. Atoms with negative formal charges mean the electron density is higher around them. If the electron density is higher around them, then they should also have a negative dipole.

[LilianKhosravi_1H]

Formal charge is the charge assigned to an atom in a molecule which is why when the molecule has no charge, the formal charges of the individual atoms must equal zero when added up.