Answer :

Final answer:

Nitrogen has a negative formal charge in the compound NO₂⁻ (c), due to it owning more electrons than its valence electron count. Other options, like NH₃, N₂O, and NO₃⁻, have nitrogen with a formal charge of zero.

Explanation:

Nitrogen has a negative formal charge in the compound NO₂⁻ (c). To determine this, we can look at the formal charge on the nitrogen atom in each compound provided. The formal charge is the difference between the number of valence electrons nitrogen has by itself and the number it 'owns' after it has shared electrons in a chemical bond.

In the case of NH₃, nitrogen shares its three electrons with three hydrogen atoms, and it has a lone pair, owning a total of five electrons, which is the same as its valence electron count, leading to a formal charge of zero. With N₂O, nitrogen in its most common oxidation state has no formal charge. However, for NO₂⁻, nitrogen owns more electrons than it has in its valence shell, which results in a negative formal charge.

Finally, for NO₃⁻, the formal charge on nitrogen is also zero because the molecule is resonant and distributes charge evenly across the atoms. Therefore, out of all the options given, NO₂⁻ is the only one where nitrogen has a negative formal charge.

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