Formal Charge Formal Charge:the difference between the number of valence shell electrons for an element and the number of electrons surrounding it in a molecule (including half of the bond electrons and all the free electrons) Example: The leftmost carbon has 3 bonds H with 2 electrons each,plus 2 free electrons;so it has 5 electrons surrounding it.The formal charge H equals the valence electrons minus surrounding electrons: 4-5=-1 Formal Charge V-4C C H H H H H C - Formal Charge Formal Charge: the difference between the number of valence shell electrons for an element and the number of electrons surrounding it in a molecule (including half of the bond electrons and all the free electrons) Example: The leftmost carbon has 3 bonds with 2 electrons each, plus 2 free electrons; so it has 5 electrons surrounding it. The formal charge equals the valence electrons minus surrounding electrons: 4 - 5 = –1 = Formal Charge VI-4