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Question

How do you calculate the formal charge of all atoms in NO3- ?


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Solution

Step 1: Formula for formal charge:-

Formal charges are represented as the actual charges on any atom within a molecule, for which we can use the formula as;

F.C=V-N-B2

(Where V = number of valence electrons, N = number of nonbonded electrons, B = Number of bonded electrons )

Step 2: Structure of NO3-, for understanding bonding within it:-

For NO3-, the formal charges on each atom can be depicted by analyzing its structure given by;

Step 3: Calculation of formal charge for each atom:-

From the structure, we can see Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons and 8 bonding electrons, hence its formal charge is counted as:

5-82=+1

Similarly, for the first Oxygen, 6 nonbonding electrons and 2 bonding electrons with 6 valence electrons are there, hence the Formal charge on

O1: 6-6-22=-1

For the second Oxygen atom, the Formal count would be the same i.e O2=-1

For the third Oxygen, it has 4 nonbonding electrons and 4 bonding electrons with 6 valence electrons hence the Formal charge on

O3:6-4-42=0

Hence, the formal charges of all atoms For NO3- has been calculated as; +1 for Nitrogen, -1 for first and second Oxygen, and 0 for third Oxygen.


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