To calculate the formal charge of sulfur in the sulfate ion SO , we need to follow these steps:1. Determine the number of valence electrons for sulfur S .2. Calculate the number of bonding electrons.3. Calculate the number of non-bonding electrons.4. Calculate the formal charge.Step 1: Determine the number of valence electrons for sulfur S .Sulfur is in group 16 or group 6A of the periodic table, so it has 6 valence electrons.Step 2: Calculate the number of bonding electrons.In the sulfate ion, sulfur forms four single bonds with four oxygen atoms. Each single bond consists of 2 electrons, so there are a total of 4 bonds 2 electrons/bond = 8 bonding electrons.Step 3: Calculate the number of non-bonding electrons.Since sulfur has 6 valence electrons and there are 8 bonding electrons, the number of non-bonding electrons is 6 - 8 = -2.Step 4: Calculate the formal charge.The formal charge of sulfur in the sulfate ion is the difference between the number of valence electrons and the sum of the bonding and non-bonding electrons:Formal charge = Valence electrons - Bonding electrons + Non-bonding electrons Formal charge = 6 - 8 + -2 Formal charge = 6 - 6Formal charge = 0Therefore, the formal charge of sulfur in the sulfate ion SO is 0.