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Draw the structure of hydroxylamine, H₃NO, and assign formal charges; look up the structure. Is the actual structure consistent with the formal charges?

a) Yes
b) No

User NBeydon
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

Hydroxylamine, H₃NO, has a nitrogen atom bonded to two hydrogens and one hydroxyl group, with a formal charge of zero on both nitrogen and oxygen, consistent with its actual structure.

Step-by-step explanation:

The structure of hydroxylamine (H₃NO) can be drawn with a nitrogen atom single-bonded to two hydrogen atoms and one hydroxyl (OH) group, with the nitrogen also having a lone pair of electrons. This gives the nitrogen a formal charge of zero, as it has made three bonds and has one lone pair (5 valence electrons - 3 bonds - 2 electrons in lone pair = 0).

The oxygen in the hydroxyl group is bonded to one hydrogen and has three lone pairs, contributing to a formal charge of zero (6 valence electrons - 1 bond - 6 electrons in lone pairs = 0). The actual structure of hydroxylamine is consistent with the assigned formal charges, as it prefers to have no formal charge on either the nitrogen or oxygen when possible.

User Jarrett Coggin
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