Formal Charge

What we learned:

• Formal charge can be found by a simple equation:

Formal charge = # valence e^– an atom wants – # valence e^– an atom has

• The number of valence electrons an atom wants comes from the periodic table
  • We can find this number based on the column of the table the atom is in
• The number of valence electrons an atom has comes from the molecule itself
  • We count the number of valence electrons an atom has based on how many bonds and lone pairs it has
    • An atom has 1 valence electron per 1 bond
    • An atom has 2 valence electrons per 1 lone pair