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eB = The total number of electrons that are shared by the bonds that connect atoms to other atoms within the molecule.eN = The total number of unbound valence electrons the atom has when positioned within the molecule.eV = The total number of valence electrons the atom possesses as if the atom were isolated from the rest of the molecule.The equation for determining the formal charge can be described as follows: In order to calculate a formal charge, electrons are assigned to individual atoms within the molecule based on two different rules: bonding electrons must be divided equally across the different bonded atoms, and non-bonding electrons are considered part of the atom they are located at. This means that relative electronegativity is not a factor.
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What Is A Formal Charge?Ī formal charge, or chemical charge, is the charge that an atom possesses in a molecule, assuming that the electrons found within the chemical bonds are all equally shared amongst the atoms that make up the molecule. In order to understand this, let’s take a look at the number of atoms within a molecule of NO3 and understand how formal charges are calculated. You may be wondering why this is the case.
![formal charge formula formal charge formula](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fHGimLaK6Vc/hqdefault.jpg)
Ion nitrates have a negative one formal charge. Nitrate, chemical formula NO3, has a chemical charge of -1.