Draw the Lewis structure of `SO_(4)^(2-)` ioin

Explanation

To draw the Lewis structure of the sulfate ion, \( \text{SO}_4^{2-} \), we will follow these steps:

### Step 1: Determine the total number of valence electrons.
- Sulfur (S) has 6 valence electrons (atomic number 16).
- Each oxygen (O) has 6 valence electrons, and there are 4 oxygen atoms: \( 4 \times 6 = 24 \) valence electrons.
- The ion has a charge of -2, which means we add 2 more electrons to the total count.

**Total valence electrons = 6 (from S) + 24 (from O) + 2 (for the charge) = 32 electrons.**
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