Formal Charge vs Octet Rule

[305421980]

When drawing Lewis Structures should we be more concerns with the octet rule before formal charge?

[Megan Vu 1J]

Yes, primarily you should start with the octet rule first in order to check the lewis structure that you drew. Only afterwards should you concern yourself with the formal charge in drawing a stable structure because you have already finished the octet rule.

[Sukanya Mohapatra 2G]

Yes, you should be more concerned with the octet rule first.

[Tiffany Chao 2H]

Just treat drawing Lewis structures for molecules as drawing a normal Lewis structure. Afterwards, go onto VSEPR.

[Madeline Phan 1E]

When drawing Lewis structures you should pay attention to number of electrons, and then the octet rule, and then formal charge in order of increasing importance.

[Mai V 4L]

Does anyone have a viideo they think is a good reference for this topic?

[Carly_Lipschitz_3H]

Yes! Octet rule should always be the first thing you do in creating the Lewis Dot Structure. Only after you have done this step then you calculate the formal charges after and can alter the structure if you need to in order to make the structure as stable as possible.

[Maya Johnson 2a]

Yes, use the octet rule to draw your lewis diagrams, then assign formal charges to the atoms.

[derickngo2k]

Octet rule comes first.

[Madisen Brown -1C]

I agree with the other responses! The octet rule should be the primary concern before a formal charge.

[Nina Tartibi 1F]

You would start with octet rule so all the atoms in the molecule are stable, and then you would calculate formal charge, hopefully getting zero as the total FC.

[Helena Xu 1I]

Yes, you would focus on the octet rule first when drawing a Lewis structure, and then calculate formal charges to find the most stable structure.

[Tobie Jessup 2E]

Use the octet rule to first determine lewis structure but the lowest formal charge is used to determine which is most stable between difference resonance structures.