Meaning of Formal Charge

[Jamie Park 2F]

What does a formal charge say about an atom or a molecule (in terms of the number of electrons)?

[Clayton Dinh 3C]

A negative formal charge would mean it has an extra electron and a positive formal charge would mean it gave one away or is missing one.

[Valerie M Dis 2E]

In terms of number of electrons, an atom having a negative formal charge would mean that it has an extra electron and an atom having a positive formal charge means it is missing an electron.

[Amanda Tran 1D]

formal charge indicates a gain or loss of electrons when forming a covalent bond.

[Kirsten Yu 2K]

Negative formal charge indicates an extra electron. Conversely, positive formal charge indicates a missing electron.

[gracebinder3I]

Hi!
Formal charge indicates whether an atom or molecule has too few or too many e- for an octet. A negative formal charge indicates more e- whereas a positive one indicates less e-.
Ex. Na usually has a formal charge of +1 since it’s e- configuration is 1s^2,2s^1
There is one valence e- without a pair, thus Na is at a loss of e-, signifying a positive formal charge.
Ex. SCN has a formal charge of -1 since there is an extra e- in the Lewis structure. In the Lewis structure with a single bond between S and C and a triple bond between C and N, S has a formal charge of -1 and C and N have formal charges of 0. Thus, SCN has a negative formal charge due to excess e- being present.
I hope this helps!

[Zoe Dhalla 3I]

Knowing the formal charge on a particular atom in a structure is an important part of keeping track of the electrons and is important for establishing and predicting the reactivity. The formal charge on an atom in a molecule reflects the electron count associated with the atom compared to the isolated neutral atom.

[Edriana J Altea 2G]

Formal charge entails how stable the molecule is which is based on how the electrons are shared among the atoms.

[Sarah Lesmeister 2F]

The formal charge shows if the molecule has an extra or is missing an electron.

[Anika Scott 3A]

Formal charges are used to identify whether an atom or molecule has extra electrons or if it has less electron. It is also very useful in identifying which molecules are the most stable when referring to resonance structures.

[Carla Bruebach 1C]

Negative formal charge means the atom/molecule has an extra electron (more electrons=more negative) and positive formal charge means the atom/molecule has less electrons than normal (less electrons=more positive)

[605733348]

The less the formal charge, the more stable the molecule would be.

[Parinita Jithendra 2A]

the formal charge helps figure out if the atom has the right amount of electrons for the octet. It is ideal to have a formal charge of 0 and that is usually what we are trying to obtain. a neg formal charge would show that there is an extra electron and a positive one would show that there is less electrons

[Justin An 2L]

Formal charge of an atoms shows whether it's missing an electron or has an extra electron, which is why ideally atoms want to have a formal charge of 0 (balanced and as stable as possible). For a molecule, the formal charges of all the individual atoms contribute to the overall charge of the molecule, whether it's 0 or some ionic compound like sulfate.

[905701360]

The formal charge shows whether a molecule is missing one electron or gained an extra electron.

[Vashe Sundar 3H]

The formal charge indicates whether an atom/element has an extra electron or if it's missing an electron.

[905701360]

The formal charge shows whether an atom is missing an electron or gained an extra electron.

[Iman Gauhar 3E]

Hi! The formal charge is a hypothetical charge assigned to an atom based on the number of electrons. If the atom has gained an extra electron, it is assigned a -1 charge. If the atom has lost an electron, it is assigned a +1 charge.

[605778346]

The formal charge indicates when the atom is gaining or losing an electron. A positive would mean that the storm is losing an electron, while a negative means it would gain an electron.

[Jessica Ghiuzelian 1H]

Formal charge shows if a molecule gains or loses an electron. So a negative formal charge indicates a gain of electrons, and a positive formal charge indicates a loss of an electron.

[006020799]

The formal charge indicates the charge that resides on the atom after all the charges are shared equally.