Answer:
One carbon atom and the nitrogen atom have nonzero formal charges.
Explanation:
The compound Acetonitrile has sixteen valence electrons as is easily San from its structure. It contains a carbon nitrogen triple bond with a lone pair of electrons on nitrogen. All atoms satisfy the octet rule and there is no hyper valent atom in the molecule.
The formal charge an carbon and nitrogen is calculated as follows;
No. of valence electron on atom - [non bonded electrons + no. of bonds]
Therefore, for carbon and nitrogen, we have;
formal charge on carbon = 4 - (0 + 4) = 0
formal charge on nitrogen = 5 - (2 + 3) = 0
Hence carbon and nitrogen both possess zero formal charges.
mid-1700s during the Industrial Revolution
Let us assume that there is a 100g sample present. The respective mass of each element will then be:
C: 74 g
H: 7.4 g
N: 8.6 g
O: 10 g
Now, we divide each constituent's mass by its Mr to obtain the moles of each
C: (74 / 12) = 6.17
H: (7.4 / 1) = 7.4
N: (8.6 / 14) = 0.61
O: (10 / 16) = 0.625
Dividing by the smallest number:
C: 10
H: 12
N: 1
O: 1
Thus, the empirical formula is
C10H12NO
