Why does sulfur have a 1 charge in sulfur dioxide?

Answer 1

I don't think sulfur has a charge since sulfur dioxide is a covalent bond. In covalent bonding no charge is produced because its between two nonmetals which share electrons. Since neither atom gains or loses electrons, the protons and electrons are balanced, producing no charge. In response to the answer above, I would first as a question. First by "charge" I assume you are referring to the oxidation number? If so, then you have to look at the charges on each of the atoms present in the molecule! First, oxygen has a -2 charge for each atom. Since Sulfur dioxide has TWO oxygens each oxygen has a -2 charge meaning that there is a total -4 charge for the two oxygens. Since sulfur dioxide doesn't have a charge on the molecule, all the charges for all the atoms must add up to 0. The oxygens already have a -4 charge which means that the sulfur has a +4 charge! Of course all of this is in reference to oxidation numbers. I'm thinking the first person to post might have been confusing the charge on the molecule with the oxidation numbers of each of the atoms?

Answer 2

Sulfur in sulfur dioxide (SO2) has a 1+ charge because it gains two electrons from oxygen atoms when forming a covalent bond. This results in sulfur having an oxidation state of +4 and a formal charge of +1.

Answer 3

No of valence electrons of sulphur are 2.Sulphur cannot lose 5 electrons to become stable.Thus it gains 2 electrons from other elements to acquire a charge of -2