{"id":246957,"date":"2025-07-07T14:03:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=246957"},"modified":"2025-07-07T14:03:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:03:38","slug":"the-student-proposes-the-following-lewis-structure-for-the-nitronium-no2-ion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/07\/the-student-proposes-the-following-lewis-structure-for-the-nitronium-no2-ion\/","title":{"rendered":"The student proposes the following Lewis structure for the nitronium (NO2+) ion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The student proposes the following Lewis structure for the nitronium (NO2+) ion: BNO2 = 04 Assign a formal charge to each atom in the student’s Lewis structure. Formal charge: Nitrogen: 0 Oxygen: 0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In order to assign the formal charges for the nitronium ion (NO2+), let’s first review the concept of formal charge and how it’s calculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formal Charge Formula:<\/strong>Formal Charge=(Valence Electrons)\u2212(Nonbonding Electrons)\u2212Bonding Electrons2\\text{Formal Charge} = (\\text{Valence Electrons}) – (\\text{Nonbonding Electrons}) – \\frac{\\text{Bonding Electrons}}{2}Formal Charge=(Valence Electrons)\u2212(Nonbonding Electrons)\u22122Bonding Electrons\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Correcting the Lewis Structure of NO2+<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The nitronium ion (NO2+) has a +1 charge, which means that the ion has one fewer electron than the neutral molecule. The general structure for NO2+ is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The nitrogen (N) atom is at the center, connected by double bonds to two oxygen (O) atoms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Since the ion has a positive charge (+1), one of the oxygen atoms should have a formal positive charge to compensate for the electron deficiency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Step 2: Formal Charge Calculations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Let’s break down the atoms in the NO2+ structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Nitrogen (N):<\/strong>\n
        \n
      • Nitrogen is in group 15 of the periodic table, so it has 5 valence electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • In this structure, nitrogen forms two double bonds<\/strong> with oxygen. Each double bond contributes 2 electrons<\/strong> to nitrogen\u2019s bonding.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Since nitrogen is bonded to two oxygen atoms, it has a total of 4 bonding electrons<\/strong> (2 from each bond).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Nitrogen has no lone pairs<\/strong> of electrons in this structure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Applying the formula: Formal\u00a0Charge\u00a0of\u00a0N=5\u22120\u221242=5\u22120\u22122=+1\\text{Formal Charge of N} = 5 – 0 – \\frac{4}{2} = 5 – 0 – 2 = +1Formal\u00a0Charge\u00a0of\u00a0N=5\u22120\u221224\u200b=5\u22120\u22122=+1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • So, nitrogen has a formal charge of +1<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Oxygen (O):<\/strong>\n
          \n
        • Oxygen is in group 16 of the periodic table, so it has 6 valence electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Each oxygen atom forms a double bond<\/strong> with nitrogen, contributing 4 bonding electrons<\/strong> in total (2 per bond).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Each oxygen atom will have 2 lone pairs<\/strong> of electrons, contributing 4 nonbonding electrons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Applying the formula for each oxygen atom: Formal\u00a0Charge\u00a0of\u00a0O=6\u22124\u221242=6\u22124\u22122=0\\text{Formal Charge of O} = 6 – 4 – \\frac{4}{2} = 6 – 4 – 2 = 0Formal\u00a0Charge\u00a0of\u00a0O=6\u22124\u221224\u200b=6\u22124\u22122=0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • So, each oxygen atom has a formal charge of 0<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Final Formal Charges:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • Nitrogen<\/strong>: +1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Oxygen<\/strong> (each): 0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            The correct formal charges in this structure are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            • Nitrogen: +1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Each Oxygen: 0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Conclusion:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

              The student\u2019s initial formal charge assignment (0 for both nitrogen and oxygen) is incorrect because the positive charge on the nitrogen atom should be acknowledged in the formal charge calculation for the ion. The correct formal charge for nitrogen is +1, and for oxygen, it’s 0 in this particular structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

              The student proposes the following Lewis structure for the nitronium (NO2+) ion: BNO2 = 04 Assign a formal charge to each atom in the student’s Lewis structure. Formal charge: Nitrogen: 0 Oxygen: 0 The Correct Answer and Explanation is: In order to assign the formal charges for the nitronium ion (NO2+), let’s first review the […]<\/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-246957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246957","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=246957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}