Formal charge is a method used in chemistry to calculate the charge that an atom in a molecule or ion would have if all of its bonds were completely ionic. It is used to determine the electron distribution in a molecule and can help predict the stability and reactivity of the molecule.
The formal charge of an atom is calculated by subtracting the number of non-bonding electrons from the number of valence electrons, and then adding the number of bonds that the atom forms. For example, the formal charge of the carbon atom in methane (CH) is 0, because it has four valence electrons, four non-bonding electrons, and four bonds to hydrogen atoms.