Formal charges and stability

[Melody Haratian 2J]

Hi guys! I was working on some formal charge problems and had a quick question. When calculating formal charge, would an molecule with a charge of +2 be more stable if all of that charge was on one atom of the molecule, or would it be more stable if the charge was separated on two atoms, each with a +1 charge?
Thanks!

[Blake Ballew 1H]

Hello I'm not entirely sure how this works on a case by case basis but I do know if distributing them to two atoms breaks up an octet then it makes them less stable.

Hope this helps!

[AlbertGu_2C]

I think any charge that sums up to +2 should be counted the same in any configuration just based on the fact that it has charge as opposed to being neutral.

[Jasmine Ho 3I]

I think that since same charge particles repel each other, it would be lower energy if the charges were separated but I'm not completely sure.

[Chinmayi Mutyala 3H]

It probably depends on the situation but I would say it's probably more stable to have it spread out since you don't want a lot of electrons in one region since that leads to electron-electron repulsions.

[Carly_Lipschitz_3H]

I believe it would be more stable to have +1 on two atoms rather than +2 on one. Although the goal is to get as many formal charges equal to 0, I think it is more stable to have the electrons spread out more equally throughout the molecule.