AnthonyP

the -1 charge for the ion confuses me and i can figure out how to draw the whole thing i can get the 3 nitrogens together but what do i do with the -1 for the ions charge?

TIMOTHY

A picture showing the Lewis structure for azide is linked below. The formal charges are computed as follows: lone pairs 'belong' to the atom on which they reside, so the two end atoms get 4 valence electrons from lone pairs. Bond pairs are shared equally between the atoms in the bond. For double bonds, each atom is assigned two valence electrons. Thus, the two end atoms 'have' six total valence electrons and the central atom 'has' four. Since a neutral N atom has five valence electrons, a N atom with six electrons gets a negative charge, and a N atom with four gets a positive charge. (Note that for purposes of satisfying the octet "rule", bond pairs get counted "twice" for the atoms participating in the bond. Formal charges are NOT done that way.)