Question
The formal charge is ____.
Answer
The formal charge is the number of valence electrons of an atom, minus the number of bonds it is a part of, minus the number of nonbonding electrons it has.
In a cyanide ion, carbon has three bonds and two nonbonding electrons for a total of five electrons. A neutral carbon atom has only four valence electrons, so the formal charge on carbon in the cyanide ion is minus one.
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