Question

In the Lewis structure of SO3. What is the formal charge of atom O?

Answer 1

This is an old chestnut....we gots 24 valence electrons to distribute...

Explanation:

We could write `S(=O)_3` or `O=stackrel(+2)S(-O)_2^(-)`

All of these structures are equivalent, and the similarly, the corresponding acid of `SO_3`, `H_2SO_4` has an ambiguous Lewis structure...

`(O=)_2S(-OH)_2-=(""^(-)O-)_2stackrel(2+)S(-OH)_2`