00:01
To draw the lewis structure for sulfate, we first need to count the number of valence electrons.
00:05
Sulfur has six, oxygen has six, and there are four of them.
00:09
Plus the two minus charge gives us an additional two electrons, so that's 32.
00:14
If we take and use all 32 by producing single bonds with the sulfur, then we've got four single bonds, two electrons each, that's age, that's eight, gives us 24 electrons remaining that can be used to add three lone pairs to each oxygen.
00:36
When we do that, the whole species has a two minus charge.
00:40
Sulfur ends up having a formal charge of plus two.
00:44
It has six valence electrons.
00:49
If we subtract the four that are assigned to it, one for each bond, that gives us a plus two formal charge.
00:57
All of the oxygens have a minus one formal charge...