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What is the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in the compound ammonium chloride (NH4Cl)? Show your work in calculating the formal charge.

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To calculate the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in ammonium chloride  NH4Cl , we need to follow these steps:1. Determine the number of valence electrons for nitrogen in its neutral state.2. Determine the number of electrons assigned to nitrogen in the molecule.3. Calculate the formal charge by subtracting the assigned electrons from the valence electrons.Step 1: Valence electrons for nitrogenNitrogen is in Group 15  or Group 5A  of the periodic table, so it has 5 valence electrons in its neutral state.Step 2: Assigned electrons to nitrogen in NH4ClIn the NH4+ ion, nitrogen is bonded to four hydrogen atoms, each with a single covalent bond. In a covalent bond, electrons are shared between atoms. Since there are four N-H bonds, nitrogen shares 4 electrons with the hydrogen atoms. However, in calculating formal charge, we only count half of the shared electrons. So, nitrogen gets 2 electrons from these bonds  4 shared electrons / 2 .Step 3: Calculate the formal chargeFormal charge = Valence electrons - Assigned electronsFormal charge = 5 - 2Formal charge = +3Therefore, the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in the ammonium chloride  NH4Cl  compound is +3.
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