{"id":246714,"date":"2025-07-07T11:04:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T11:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=246714"},"modified":"2025-07-07T11:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T11:04:38","slug":"based-on-the-lewis-structure-for-sif62","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/07\/based-on-the-lewis-structure-for-sif62\/","title":{"rendered":"Based on the Lewis structure for SiF6^2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Based on the Lewis structure for SiF6^2-, what is the formal charge of the central silicon atom? QUESTION: What is the formal charge of the central silicon atom? Click “Submit” to submit your answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer is e. -2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Formal charge is a concept used in chemistry to help determine the most plausible Lewis structure for a molecule or ion by assigning a hypothetical charge to each atom. It represents the charge an atom would have if all bonding electrons were shared equally between the a_toms. The calculation for formal charge follows a specific formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formal Charge = (Number of Valence Electrons) \u2013 (Number of Non-bonding Electrons) \u2013 (\u00bd \u00d7 Number of Bonding Electrons)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find the formal charge of the central silicon (Si) atom in the provided Lewis structure for the hexafluorosilicate ion (SiF6^2-), we can apply this formula step by step. Note that while the question text in the image incorrectly states SiF5^-, the Lewis structure drawn clearly shows a silicon atom bonded to six fluorine atoms, which corresponds to SiF6^2-. We must analyze the structure as it is drawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Determine the Number of Valence Electrons for Silicon:<\/strong>\u00a0Silicon (Si) is in Group 14 of the periodic table. Therefore, a neutral silicon atom has 4 valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Count the Non-bonding Electrons on Silicon:<\/strong>\u00a0Looking at the Lewis structure, the central silicon atom has no lone pairs of electrons. So, the number of non-bonding electrons is 0.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Count the Bonding Electrons around Silicon:<\/strong>\u00a0The silicon atom is forming six single covalent bonds, one with each of the six fluorine atoms. Since each single bond consists of 2 electrons, the total number of bonding electrons around the central silicon atom is 6 bonds \u00d7 2 electrons\/bond = 12 bonding electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Calculate the Formal Charge:<\/strong>\u00a0Now, we plug these values into the formal charge formula:Formal Charge (Si) = 4 (Valence e-) \u2013 0 (Non-bonding e-) \u2013 (\u00bd \u00d7 12 Bonding e-)
    Formal Charge (Si) = 4 \u2013 0 \u2013 6
    Formal Charge (Si) = -2<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Therefore, based on the given Lewis structure, the formal charge on the central silicon atom is -2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Based on the Lewis structure for SiF6^2-, what is the formal charge of the central silicon atom? QUESTION: What is the formal charge of the central silicon atom? Click “Submit” to submit your answer. The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The correct answer is e. -2. Explanation Formal charge is a concept used in chemistry to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}