## formal charge

$FC=V-(L+\frac{S}{2})$

Sophia Dinh 1D
Posts: 100
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:15 am

### formal charge

how do you find the formal charge and what is it used for?

Kevin Liu 1J
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: formal charge

Formal charge is represented by the formula: FC = Ve- - (bonded + s/2) and is used for determining the most plausible resonance structures among other purposes.

Martina
Posts: 111
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: formal charge

Another way to think about it is FC= valence electrons - (number of lone pair electrons + number of bonds)

Serena Siddiq 3D
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: formal charge

Formal charge allows us to find the most stable Lewis structure of a compound because we can draw many valid structures that match the total number of valence electrons, but we want the most STABLE. The most stable structure will have majority of its formal charges equal to 0. When it is an ionic compound, it will need formal charges to reflect that. The equation to find the formal charge of each atom in the compound is: [# valence electrons on neutral atom] – [(# lone electron pairs) + (½ # bonding electrons)].

AmyL_3L
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: formal charge

The formal charge can be found using the equation: FC = Valence electrons - (lone pair electrons + no. of bound electrons/2) .
This is used to find which Lewis structure is most plausible.