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Calculate the formal charge of the nitrogen atom in the molecule NH3. Show your work and explain the significance of the result.

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To calculate the formal charge of the nitrogen atom in the NH3 molecule, we will use the following formula:Formal charge =  Valence electrons of the atom  -  Non-bonding electrons  - 1/2 Bonding electrons Step 1: Determine the valence electrons of the nitrogen atom.Nitrogen is in group 15 of the periodic table, so it has 5 valence electrons.Step 2: Determine the non-bonding electrons.In NH3, nitrogen is bonded to three hydrogen atoms, and it also has one lone pair of electrons. The non-bonding electrons are the lone pair electrons, which is 2.Step 3: Determine the bonding electrons.Each nitrogen-hydrogen bond has 2 electrons, and there are three such bonds in NH3. So, there are a total of 2 x 3 = 6 bonding electrons.Now, we can calculate the formal charge of the nitrogen atom:Formal charge =  5  -  2  - 1/2 6 Formal charge = 5 - 2 - 3Formal charge = 0The formal charge of the nitrogen atom in NH3 is 0. This means that the nitrogen atom has a neutral charge in this molecule. The significance of this result is that the molecule is stable and the distribution of electrons around the nitrogen atom is balanced.
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