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Mistake Master · AP Chemistry · Unit 2 · Step-Through Animation

One Ion, Three Drawings, and None of Them Is It

You'll learnhow to rank Lewis structures with formal charge, and why the real ion is their average.

Nitrate can be drawn three different ways, and every one of them follows the rules. None of them is the ion. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · NITRATE NO3− · v3

three drawings on the left · the one real ion on the right
Before you start
What you're looking at
Three legal drawings of nitrate that differ only in which oxygen holds the double bond.
The question
If all three follow every rule, which one is the real ion?
Step 1 / 12