Why Is There No Charge In NH3 - Chemistry Stack Exchange

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Learn more about Teams Why is there no charge in NH3 Ask Question Asked 2 years, 10 months ago Modified 2 years, 10 months ago Viewed 568 times -4 $\begingroup$

The formation of $NH_3$ is by covalent bond,i.e sharing of electrons take place. Here $N$ now has 8 electrons in it's outermost shell,$3$ more than it's original state,so it should have charge $-3$. Furthermore each hydrogen has $2$ electrons in it's outermost shell,$1$ more than usual,so total charge on hydrogen should be $3\times(-1)$. So the net charge on $NH_3$ should be $-6$. Then why is it neutral?

• bond

Share Cite Improve this question Follow asked Mar 3, 2022 at 13:54 Tanjiro OTanjiro O 1 $\endgroup$ 4

• $\begingroup$ How many valence electrons are there in ammonia? Is it really 8 + 2 + 2 + 2? $\endgroup$ – orthocresol Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:00
• 4 $\begingroup$ You have counted each of the 6 electrons from 3 bonds twice. $\endgroup$ – Poutnik Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:00
• $\begingroup$ Sorry but I didn't understand,since this is a covalent bond,electrons are shared,so $N$ has now the electrons of $H$ and $H$ has the electrons of $N$,going by not nitrogen has obtained $3$ more electrons from the hydrogens and each hydrogen has obtained one more electron on $N$,that's how I actually considered the charges. $\endgroup$ – Tanjiro O Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:39
• 1 $\begingroup$ @TanjiroO Each shared electron must be counted as just a half of an electron. Similarly as in crystallography cells, an atom shared with N cells is counted as 1/N atoms. So nitrogen atom in NH3 has 4 + 6/2=7 electrons, hydrogen atoms 2/2=1 electron. How simple, dear Dr. Watson! $\endgroup$ – Poutnik Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 23:26

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Sorted by: Reset to default Highest score (default) Date modified (newest first) Date created (oldest first) 1 $\begingroup$

Let's actually count protons and electrons.

Nitrogen has 7 protons and each hydrogen has 1 proton which makes a total of 10 protons.

Nitrogen has 10 electrons out of the 3 that are shared with the hydrogen atoms.

Each Hydrogen has 2 electrons out of the 1 is shared with the nitrogen atom.

We get a total of 10 protons and 10 electrons.But why 10 electrons?Because 3 electrons are in both sets of nitrogen and electron protons.

Share Cite Improve this answer Follow answered Mar 3, 2022 at 14:30 Jun Seo-HeJun Seo-He 20311 silver badge88 bronze badges $\endgroup$ 5

• $\begingroup$ Instead of counting the total number of protons and electrons,shouldn't we be counting respective charges?Like nitrogen has $7$ protons and $10$ electrons now,so it has a charge of $-3$ and so on $\endgroup$ – Tanjiro O Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:44
• $\begingroup$ Study set theory I recommend this video:youtube.com/watch?v=yCwnifwVjIg $\endgroup$ – Jun Seo-He Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:48
• $\begingroup$ I actually know about set theory,what is the $C$ that you mentioned? Also why aren't we considering charges on respective atoms? The thing you did is you derived 10 electrons and 10 protons,but I am talking about comparing proton number of an atom and the excess of electron that atom gets. $\endgroup$ – Tanjiro O Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:55
• $\begingroup$ Which means I am dealing with things individually $\endgroup$ – Tanjiro O Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 14:58
• $\begingroup$ C is the # of electrons $\endgroup$ – Jun Seo-He Commented Mar 3, 2022 at 15:06

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