00:03
Hi there.
00:04
In this question, we want to determine the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in this nitrate ion.
00:13
So we need the formula for calculating formal charge.
00:19
Formal charge is calculated by taking the number of valence electrons that the atom has, then subtracting the number of bonded electrons divided by two, and then subtracting the number of bonded electrons, number of lone electrons on that central atom.
00:57
Okay, so let's determine the formal charge for nitrogen using this formula.
01:09
Nitrogen is in group 5a of the periodic table, so a nitrogen atom has five valence electrons.
01:18
When we look here, we see that nitrogen has one, two, three, four bonds, and there are two electrons per bond...