Oxidation State vs. Formal Charge

[Nisarg Shah 1C]

What's the difference between oxidation state and formal charge and when do we use one instead of the other?

[deeksha1I]

Formal charge is the electric charge of an atom in a molecule assigned on the assumption that the bonding is nonpolar covalent. So like, #valence electrons - ( #lone pairs + (#shared electrons/2))
We have used formal charge to determine, when drawing lewis structures, which structure is the most stable.

Oxidation number is the effective charge on an atom. So, with Cu+, the oxidation number would be +1. We use oxidation numbers when naming compounds.

[Beza Ayalew 1I]

So generally, an atom can have a formal charge of zero but an oxidation number of, for example, 2-?

[Christine Wastila 1H]

In response to the previous comment, yes, that is possible. A positive oxidation number represents how many electrons an atom can accept, while a negative oxidation number represents how many electrons an atom can donate.