A compound composed of 2.1% H, 29.8% N, and 68.1% O has a molar mass of approximately 50 g/mol. What is the formal charge of the nitrogen?
1 Answer
Nitrogen has a ZERO formal charge in nitrous acid,
Explanation:
We need (i) to obtain the emprical, and (ii) the molecular formula of the nitrogen species:
If we assume 100 g of stuff, there are,
We divide thru by the lowest molar quantity to give
But we know that the chemical formula is ALWAYS a mulitple of the empirical formula:
And thus,
In nitrous acid, the charge on