{"id":30024,"date":"2025-06-21T15:59:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T15:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=30024"},"modified":"2025-06-21T16:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:00:01","slug":"what-is-the-formal-charge-on-the-central-nitrogen-atom-in-dinitrogen-sulfide-n2s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/what-is-the-formal-charge-on-the-central-nitrogen-atom-in-dinitrogen-sulfide-n2s\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the formal charge on the central nitrogen atom in dinitrogen sulfide (N2S)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is the formal charge on the central nitrogen atom in dinitrogen sulfide (N2S)? a. \u20132 b. +2 c. \u20131 d. +1 e. 0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">The correct answer and explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Correct answer: d. +1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To determine the formal charge on the central nitrogen atom in <strong>dinitrogen sulfide (N\u2082S)<\/strong>, we follow the formal charge formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Formal charge = (Valence electrons) \u2013 (Non-bonding electrons) \u2013 (Bonding electrons \u00f7 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Determine the molecular structure of N\u2082S<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dinitrogen sulfide has the molecular formula <strong>N\u2013N=S<\/strong>, and the common Lewis structure places the atoms in a linear or bent arrangement:<br><strong>N\u2081\u2013N\u2082=S<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let us consider a likely resonance form that satisfies the octet rule for all atoms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>:N\u2261N\u2013S:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first nitrogen (N\u2081) has a triple bond with the second nitrogen (N\u2082) and one lone pair.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The central nitrogen (N\u2082) has a single bond with sulfur and a triple bond with N\u2081.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The sulfur atom (S) has two lone pairs and a single bond to N\u2082.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Count formal charges<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Valence electrons<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sulfur has 6 valence electrons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Central nitrogen (N\u2082):<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Valence electrons = 5<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Non-bonding electrons = 0 (no lone pairs on N\u2082)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bonding electrons = 8 (3 bonds to N\u2081 + 1 bond to S = 4 bonds = 8 electrons)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Formal charge = 5 \u2013 0 \u2013 (8 \u00f7 2) = 5 \u2013 0 \u2013 4 = +1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Answer:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The formal charge on the <strong>central nitrogen<\/strong> atom in dinitrogen sulfide is <strong>+1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formal charges help chemists understand electron distribution in molecules. In N\u2082S, the central nitrogen forms four bonds but lacks non-bonded electrons, causing an electron deficiency. This is reflected as a formal charge of <strong>+1<\/strong>, indicating the atom has one less electron than it normally possesses in a neutral state. This helps balance the molecule\u2019s overall charge and predict its reactivity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the formal charge on the central nitrogen atom in dinitrogen sulfide (N2S)? a. \u20132 b. +2 c. \u20131 d. +1 e. 0 The correct answer and explanation is: Correct answer: d. +1 To determine the formal charge on the central nitrogen atom in dinitrogen sulfide (N\u2082S), we follow the formal charge formula: Formal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30025,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30024\/revisions\/30025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}