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What is the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in the compound NO₃⁻? Show your work and explain your reasoning.

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To calculate the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in the compound NO  nitrate ion , we will use the formula:Formal charge =  Valence electrons of the atom  -  Non-bonding electrons  - 0.5 *  Bonding electrons First, let's determine the number of valence electrons, non-bonding electrons, and bonding electrons for the nitrogen atom in NO.1. Valence electrons: Nitrogen belongs to Group 15  or Group 5A  in the periodic table, so it has 5 valence electrons.2. Non-bonding electrons: In the nitrate ion, nitrogen is bonded to three oxygen atoms, and there are no lone pairs of electrons on the nitrogen atom. Therefore, there are 0 non-bonding electrons.3. Bonding electrons: Nitrogen forms one double bond with an oxygen atom and two single bonds with the other two oxygen atoms. A double bond consists of 4 electrons  2 pairs , and a single bond consists of 2 electrons  1 pair . So, there are a total of 4  from the double bond  + 2  from the first single bond  + 2  from the second single bond  = 8 bonding electrons.Now, we can plug these values into the formula:Formal charge =  5  -  0  - 0.5 *  8 Formal charge = 5 - 0 - 4Formal charge = 1However, we must consider that the nitrate ion has a -1 overall charge. This means that the formal charge on the nitrogen atom should be adjusted by -1:Formal charge = 1 - 1Formal charge = 0So, the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in the compound NO is 0.
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