So some of you may have heard of the term free radicals when discussing health or nutrition. We know that free radicals can damage healthy cells within our bodies. But what is a free radical look like? Well, free radicals are just molecules or ions with an unpaired electron around an element. In this case, we have this unpaired electron on the nitrogen atom.
We're going to say radicals or compounds. Radical compounds always have an odd number of total valence electrons, Nitrogens in Group 5A, so it has five. Oxygens group 6A, so it has six. So this molecule has a total of 11 total valence electrons. Now we're going to say to draw it you place the electron on the element that gives least formal charges.
So if we took the formal charge of nitrogen and oxygen. So remember formal charge equals group number minus. The bonzi element is making non bonding electrons, so nitrogen is in Group 5A so it has five valence electrons. We see it making two bonds and it has three electrons so it equals 0. Oxygen is in Group 6A. We see it making two bonds and it has four electrons that are not bonding, so it is also equal to 0. So both molecules have zero foam charges.
Remember we want to get all our atoms if possible within the Lewis dot structure as close to 0 as possible. This gives us the best representation for a particular molecule. Now again, the giveaway that we're dealing with a radical is when you calculate the total number of valence electrons and you get back in odd value. This is usually a strong indication that a radical may be present, so play around and see what makes the most sense in terms of the free radical compound.