What is the Charge on Sulfuric acid (H2SO4)? And Why?

The Charge of H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid) is 0.

But the question is how can you say that the charge on H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid) is 0?

Well you can say this by calculating its formal charge.

So let’s calculate the formal charge of H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid).

If you are a visual learner like me, then here is a short two minute video for you.

Calculating the formal charge of H2SO4 using lewis structure

In order to calculate the formal charge on H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid), you should know the Lewis dot structure of H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid).

Here is the lewis structure of H2SO4.

Now using the above lewis structure of H2SO4, you have to find the formal charge on each atom that is present in the H2SO4 molecule.

For calculating the formal charge, you need to remember this formula;

Formal charge = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2

You can see the bonding and nonbonding electrons of H2SO4 from the image given below.

So now let’s calculate the formal charge on each individual atom present in H2SO4.

Formal charge on Hydrogen atom:
Valence electron = 1 (as it is in group 1 on periodic table) ^[1]
Nonbonding electrons = 0
Bonding electrons = 2

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Hydrogen = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 1 – 0 – (2/2) = 0

So the formal charge on hydrogen atom is 0.

Formal charge on Sulfur atom:
Valence electrons = 6 (as it is in group 16 on periodic table) ^[2]
Nonbonding electrons = 0
Bonding electrons = 12

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Sulfur = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 6 – 0 – (12/2) = 0

So the formal charge on sulfur atom is 0.

Formal charge on Oxygen atom:
Valence electron = 6 (as it is in group 16 on periodic table) ^[3]
Nonbonding electrons = 4
Bonding electrons = 4

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Oxygen = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 6 – 4 – (4/2) = 0

So the formal charge on oxygen atom is 0.

Now you can see that all the atoms of H2SO4 have 0 formal charge. 

This indicates that the overall H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid) molecule also has 0 charge and hence it is a neutral molecule.

I hope you have understood the above calculations for the formal charge of H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid). 

Check out some other related topics for your practice.

Related topics:
Charge on Nitric acid (HNO3)
Charge on Acetic acid (CH3COOH)
Charge of O3 (Ozone)
Charge of Neon (Ne)
Charge on IO3 (Iodate ion)