A-Level Chemistry Understanding and Constructing Chemical Formula
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A-Level Chemistry Understanding and constructing chemical formula Instructions: Work your way through each section by reading through the notes and answering the questions showing any working when required Keyword Definition Atom The smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist. Element Made up of the same type of atom Compound Two or more elements chemically joined Molecule A group of atoms bonded together by covalent bonds. Ion An atom, element or molecule with an electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons (charged particle) Chemical compounds can generally be classified into two broad groups: molecular compounds and ionic compounds. Molecular compounds involve atoms joined by covalent bonds and can be represented by a variety of formulas. Ionic compounds are composed of ions joined by ionic bonding, and their formulas are generally written using ion charges. Section 1 - Naming of compounds At A-Level you will meet many compounds that are new to you; a lot of these will be organic compounds. In this section, we will be looking at the naming some of the compounds that you may already have met at GCSE. Many of these compounds are named using simple rules. However, there are some that have ‘trivial’ names not fixed by the rules. It is important that you learn the names and formulae of these compounds. • Compounds between Metals and Non-metals Compounds made of a metal and non-metal are commonly known as Ionic Compounds, where the compound name has an ending of –ide. e.g. Sodium and Chlorine (NaCl) give SODIUM CHLORIDE Calcium and oxygen (CaO) give CALCIUM OXIDE Magnesium and nitrogen (Mg3N2) give MAGNESIUM NITRIDE Lithium and hydrogen (LiH) give LITHIUM HYDRIDE Metals have positive charges while non-metals have negative charges. The net charge of an ionic compound must be zero which also means it must be electrically neutral. The charges of these ions depend on where the elements are in the Periodic Table. e.g. one Na1+ is paired with one Cl1- giving NaCl 2+ - one Ca is paired with two Br giving CaBr2 (more on constructing formula will be looked at in section 2) Below is a general set of rules to work out ion charges for certain elements. Group 1 metal elements form 1+ ions Group 2 metal elements form 2+ ions Groups 3 metal elements form 3+ ions Group 5 non-metal elements form 3- ions Group 6 non-metal elements form 2- ions Group 7 non-metal elements form 1- ions Hydrogen can either be 1+ or 1-, if it is 1- then its name changes to hydride Rules 1. The metal is always named first with its name unchanged 2. The non-metal is written second, modified to end in –ide 3. If the metal is a transition metal then the charge of the transition metal is shown, because transition metals have variable ion charges. e.g. Iron can have an ion charge of 2+ or 3+, Iron Chloride would not tell you which of the two possible. In this case the charge of the iron is indicated using roman numerals in brackets after the name of the metal. In 2+ 3+ this case Fe would be named iron (II) and Fe would be named iron (III) giving Iron (II) Chloride for FeCl2 or Iron (III) Chloride for FeCl3. The charge of the transition metal can be worked out by knowing the non-metal ion charges (using the general ion charge rules from above) Other elements also form these types of compounds and the name always ends in -ide. These are hydroxides that have the -OH group and cyanides, which have the -CN group. e.g. NaOH is Sodium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 is Calcium Hydroxide KCN is Potassium Cyanide Compounds between non-metal and non-metal Compounds that consist of a non-metal bonded to a non-metal are commonly known as Molecular Compounds. Rules 1. If the molecule contains the same atom, then the name of the molecule does not change e.g. H2 – hydrogen O2 – oxygen N2 – nitrogen Cl2 – chlorine 2. If the compound contains two non-metal atoms the actual number of atoms of the element present are stated e.g. CO is Carbon Monoxide where mon- means one (one oxygen) CO2 is Carbon Dioxide where di- means two (two oxygens) PCl3 is Phosphorus Trichloride where tri- means three (three chlorines) CCl4 is Carbon Tetrachloride where tetra- means four (four chlorines) PCl5 is Phosphorus Pentachloride where penta- means five (five chlorines) EXCEPTIONS H2O which is Water HCl which is Hydrochloric Acid NH3 which is Ammonia CH4 which is Methane (this is an organic molecule; all of these have a different set of naming rules) Compounds that contains a metal, a non-metal and oxygen Rules 1. it has a name ending in -ate or -ite. n.b. – ite is used when the compound contains a lower number of oxygens e.g. Sodium, nitrogen and oxygen (NaNO3) is Sodium Nitrate Calcium, carbon and oxygen (CaCO3) is Calcium Carbonate Potassium, sulfur and oxygen (K2SO4) is Potassium Sulfate Sodium, manganese and oxygen (NaMnO4) is Sodium Manganate Potassium, chlorine and oxygen KClO3 is Potassium Chlorate COMMON GROUPS OF NON-METAL EXCEPTIONS ATOMS (molecular ions) 2- Hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen (H2SO4) which is SO4 sulfate ions - sulfuric acid NO3 nitrate ions 2- Hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen (HNO3) which is CO3 carbonate ions 3- nitric acid PO4 phosphate ions - Hydrogen, phosphorus and oxygen (H3PO4) which is OH hydroxide ions CN- cyanide ions phosphoric acid ClO- chlorate ions + NH4 ammonium ions Write the chemical name the following formulas 1. NH3 2. H2 3. SO3 4. HI 5. HF 6. CH4 7. H2S 8. H2SO4 9. HNO3 10. NaNO3 11. Na2CO3 12. KOH 13. Na2SO4 14. CaCl2 15. Ca(NO3)2 16. Ca(OH)2 17. SO4 18. BaCl2 19. AlCl3 20. Al(NO3)3 21. Al2(SO4)3 22. FeSO4 23. FeCl3 24. Fe2(SO4)3 25. PbO 26. PbO2 27. Pb(NO3)2 28. PbCl2 29. PbSO4 30. Cu(NO3)2 31. CuCl 32. CuCl2 33. CuSO4 34. ZnCl2 35. AgNO3 36. NH4Cl 37. (NH4)2SO4 38. NH4VO3 (V is Vanadium) 39. KIO3 40. NaClO Section 2 - Chemical formulae A chemical formula is a useful shorthand method for describing the atoms in a chemical: sometimes you will see the formula used instead of the name, but you should not do this if you are asked for a name. The chemical formula of an element or compound tells you: Which elements it contains: e.g. FeSO4 contains iron, sulphur and oxygen How many atoms of each kind are in each molecule: e.g. H2SO4 contains two atoms of hydrogen, one atom of sulphur and four atoms of oxygen in each molecule How the atoms are arranged: e.g. C2H5OH contains a group of atoms known as the ethyl group, -C2H5, and a hydroxyl group, -OH The masses of the various elements in a compound: e.g. 18 g of water, H2O, contains 2 g of hydrogen atoms and 16 g of oxygen since the relative atomic mass of hydrogen is 1 (x 2because there two hydrogen atoms) and that of oxygen is 16. You should not learn large numbers of chemical formulae by heart. However, it is useful to know a few of them particularly common elements and some groups of atoms, this is helpful because once you know these you should then be able to work out the formula of a compound. This set of rules should help you work out certain chemical formulae. Rules If the compound is made up of positive and negative ions • Write down the symbols of the elements/molecular ions in the compound (remember the common molecular ions in the table above) • Write down the ion charge under the corresponding symbol • Now cross them over • If an element has more than one ion charge, the name of the compound will indicate which charge should be used Sodium sulfate Na SO4 1 2 Na2SO4 Calcium hydrogen carbonate Ca HCO3 Bracket required as it is 2 1 multiplied by 2 or more and composed of more than one element. Ca(HCO3)2 If the compound is a molecular compound Diatomic molecules (Hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and all of group 7) molecule contains the same atom e.g. H2 – hydrogen O2 – oxygen N2 – nitrogen Cl2 – chlorine If the compound contains two non-metal atoms the actual number of atoms of the element present are stated e.g. CO is Carbon Monoxide where mon- means one (one oxygen) CO2 is Carbon Dioxide where di- means two (two oxygens) PCl3 is Phosphorus Trichloride where tri- means three (three chlorines) CCl4 is Carbon Tetrachloride where tetra- means four (four chlorines) PCl5 is Phosphorus Pentachloride where penta- means five (five chlorines) EXCEPTIONS H2O which is Water HCl which is Hydrochloric Acid NH3 which is Ammonia CH4 which is Methane (this is an organic molecule; all of these have a different set of naming rules) Construct the formula of the following chemical names 1. Sodium hydroxide 2. Potassium bromide 3. Magnesium chloride 4. Silver iodide 5. Sulfur trioxide 6. Magnesium carbonate 7. Aluminium sulfate 8. Zinc Nitrate 9. Potassium hydrogen carbonate 10. Calcium phosphate 11. Phosphorus trioxide 12. Iron (II) hydroxide 13. Copper (II) oxide 14. Lead (IV) oxide 15. Iron (III) sulfate 16. Ammonium sulfate 17. Phosphorus pentachloride 18. Lead (II) sulfide 19. Sodium sulfite 20. Chlorine (I) oxide .