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What is the formal charge of the chlorine atom in the molecule ClO2? Show your calculations.

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To calculate the formal charge of the chlorine atom in the ClO2 molecule, we can use the following formula:Formal charge =  Valence electrons of the atom  -  Non-bonding electrons  - 0.5 *  Bonding electrons In the case of ClO2, the chlorine atom is the central atom, and it is bonded to two oxygen atoms. The Lewis structure of ClO2 is:       O       ||Cl - O       |       ONow let's calculate the formal charge of the chlorine atom:1. Valence electrons of chlorine: Chlorine is in Group 7A, so it has 7 valence electrons.2. Non-bonding electrons: In the Lewis structure, there are 2 lone pairs on the chlorine atom, which means there are 4 non-bonding electrons.3. Bonding electrons: There are two single bonds and one double bond between chlorine and the oxygen atoms. Each single bond has 2 electrons, and the double bond has 4 electrons. So, there are a total of 2 + 2 + 4 = 8 bonding electrons.Now, we can plug these values into the formula:Formal charge of Cl =  7  -  4  - 0.5 *  8 Formal charge of Cl = 7 - 4 - 4Formal charge of Cl = -1So, the formal charge of the chlorine atom in the ClO2 molecule is -1.
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