To calculate the formal charge of the sulfur atom in the sulfate ion SO4^2- , we can use the following formula:Formal charge = Valence electrons of the atom - Non-bonding electrons - 0.5 * Bonding electrons Sulfur is in group 6A of the periodic table, so it has 6 valence electrons. In the sulfate ion, sulfur is bonded to four oxygen atoms through double bonds. Each double bond consists of 2 bonding electrons, so there are a total of 8 bonding electrons involved in the double bonds.Since sulfur is using all its valence electrons for bonding, there are no non-bonding electrons.Now, we can plug these values into the formula:Formal charge of S = 6 - 0 - 0.5 * 8 Formal charge of S = 6 - 4Formal charge of S = +2So, the formal charge of the sulfur atom in the SO4^2- ion is +2.