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Topic: Calculating formal charges  (Read 2274 times)

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Offline Jessica508

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Calculating formal charges
« on: June 02, 2013, 01:48:05 PM »
Did I do these right?
« Last Edit: June 02, 2013, 01:57:44 PM by sjb »

Offline Corribus

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Re: Calculating formal charges
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2013, 05:33:37 PM »
No, you did not.  You need to do a better job counting bonding electrons.  Each single bond contributes two, and we divide by two because formal charge formalism assumes complete covalency (equal sharing between adjacent atoms).  That goes for sigma AND pi bonds.
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline Jessica508

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Re: Calculating formal charges
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2013, 07:00:00 PM »
Thank you. So this should be right then?

Offline Corribus

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Re: Calculating formal charges
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2013, 07:10:22 PM »
Some are right, some are still wrong.  Let me amend my prior post: you need to do a better job counting bonds.  It may be helpful to draw out each molecule showing every bond that is there.

For example, in the molecule at right (H2C-N≡N), how many bonds does the carbon have?
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline Jessica508

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Re: Calculating formal charges
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2013, 07:18:00 PM »
would it be 1  bond?

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