While There Are Many Thousands of Different Chemical Compounds There
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NAMING CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS & WRITING CHEMICAL FORMULAS While there are many thousands of different chemical compounds there is a very definite system of nomenclature whereby we can name or write chemical formulas for most compounds. We divide the compounds into two main types – binary compounds and ternary compounds. I. Binary Compounds All true binary compounds contain only two elements. The name of every binary compound ends with “ide.” Binary compounds come in three types. They are: Type I ………. the metal forms only one type of cation Type II ……… the metal forms two or more types of cations Type III …….. contains only nonmetals We will look at each type, one at a time. Type I Binary Compounds For Type I binary compounds the metal present can be found in either Group 1 or Group 2 on the periodic table. The naming system for this type of compound is quite simple and is found below. Rules for naming Type I binary compounds 1. The cation is always name first and the anion second. 2. A simple cation (obtained from a single atom) takes its name from the name of the element. 3. A simple anion (obtained from a single atom) is named by taking the first part of the element name (the root) and adding the letters “IDE.” 4. Write the name for the compound by combining the names of the ions. When naming Type I binary compounds: name of first element root + ide The root is merely an abbreviation for the name of the second element. The roots of the most commonly used elements are listed in the following table. Roots of the most commonly used elements. arsenic = arsen nitrogen = nitr bromine = brom oxygen = ox carbon = carb phosphorus = phosph chlorine = chlor selenium = selen fluorine = fluor sulfur = sulf hydrogen = hydr tellurium = tellur iodine = iod Page 1 of 13 NAMING CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS & WRITING CHEMICAL FORMULAS Examples: Name the compound RbI. Rb is the chemical symbol for rubidium. I is the chemical symbol for iodine, whose root is “iod.” Add the “ide” ending to get iodide. Put the pieces together to get the name rubidium iodide. Name the compound CaO. Ca is the chemical symbol for calcium. O is the symbol for oxygen, whose root is “ox.” Add the “ide” ending to get oxide. Put the pieces together to get the name calcium oxide. Name the compound Li3N. Li is the chemical symbol for lithium. N is the chemical symbol for nitrogen, whose root is “nitr.” Add the “ide” ending to get nitride. Put the pieces together to get the name lithium nitride. Write the formula for potassium sulfide. st The chemical symbol of potassium is K. K is in the 1 column of the periodic table, therefore, its ionic charge is +1. Sulfide is derived from sulfur, whose symbol is S. Its ionic charge is -2. +1 -2 So far we have… K S. The total positive charge must balance the total negative charge. Therefore, we need 2 K atoms to give a total positive charge of +2. This balances the -2 charge on the sulfur. Putting it all together we have K2S. Write the formula for magnesium chloride. nd The chemical symbol of magnesium is Mg. Mg is in the 2 column of the periodic table, therefore, its ionic charge is +2. Chloride is derived from chlorine, whose symbol is Cl. Its ionic charge is -1. +2 -1 So far we have… Mg Cl The total positive charge must balance the total negative charge. Therefore, we need 2 chlorine atoms to give a total negative charge of -2. This balances the charge on the magnesium. Putting it all together we have MgCl2. Page 2 of 13 NAMING CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS & WRITING CHEMICAL FORMULAS Type II Binary Compounds For Type II binary compounds the metal present is NOT found in either Group 1 or Group 2 on the periodic table. The naming system for this type of compound is found below. Rules for naming Type II binary compounds 1. The cation is always named first and the anion second. 2. A simple cation (obtained from a single atom) takes its name from the name of the element. Include a Roman numeral to indicate the ionic charge on the metal cation. 3. A simple anion (obtained from a single atom) is named by taking the first part of the element name (the root) and adding the letters “IDE.” 4. Write the name for the compound by combining the names of the ions. When naming Type II binary compounds: name of first element (Roman numeral) root + ide Roman Numerals 1..........I 6 VI 2..........II 7..........VII 3..........III 8..........VIII 4..........IV 9..........IX 5..........V 10........X Examples: Name the compound FeCl2. Fe is the chemical symbol for iron. o Fe is not in Group 1 or Group 2; therefore a Roman numeral is needed in the name. We’ll come back to that shortly. Cl is the chemical symbol for chlorine, whose root is “chlor.” Add the “ide” ending to get chloride. At this point we have iron (??) chloride. To find the Roman numeral … o Find the charge of the anion. Cl has a -1 charge. o Multiply times the number of those atoms to get the total negative charge. There are 2 Cl atoms. 2 times -1 = -2. total negative charge. o Balance total negative charge with total positive charge. The total negative charge of -2 must be balanced with a total positive charge of +2. o Divide the total positive charge by the number of atoms to get Roman numeral. There is only 1 Fe . +2 divided by 1 = +2. The Roman numeral is II. Put the pieces together to get the name iron (II) chloride. Page 3 of 13 NAMING CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS & WRITING CHEMICAL FORMULAS Name the compound PbS2. Pb is the chemical symbol for lead. o Pb is not in the Group 1 or Group 2; therefore a Roman numeral is needed. S is sulfur, whose root is “sulf.” Add the “ide” ending to get sulfide. At this point we have lead (??) sulfide. To find the Roman numeral … . S has a charge of -2. There are 2 sulfur atoms so … 2 x -2 = -4. total negative charge . The total positive charge must be +4. There is 1 lead atom so … +4 ÷ 1 = +4. The Roman numeral is IV. Put the pieces together to get the name lead (IV) sulfide. Write the formula for nickel (III) oxide. The chemical symbol of nickel is Ni. The ionic charge is +3, as given by the Roman numeral. Oxide is derived from oxygen, whose symbol is O. Its ionic charge is -2. +3 -2 So far we have Ni O. In order to balance the charges we find the least common multiple (LCM) of 3 and 2. The LCM is 6. We need two Ni atoms (+6 ÷ +3 = 2) and three O atoms (-6 ÷ -2 = 3) to balance the charges. Putting it all together we have Ni2O3. Write the formula for lead (IV) nitride. The chemical symbol of lead is Pb. The ionic charge is +4. Nitride is derived from nitrogen, whose symbol is N. Its ionic charge is -3. +4 -3 So far we have Pb N. The LCM of 4 and 3 is 12. We need three Pb atoms (+12 ÷ +4 = 3) and 4 N atoms (-12 ÷ -3 = 4) to balance the charges. Putting it all together we have Pb3N4. Write the name for iron (II) oxide. The chemical symbol of iron is Fe. The ionic charge is +2. Oxide is derived from oxygen, whose symbol is O. Its ionic charge is -2. +2 -2 So far we have Fe O Since the charges already balance there is no additional work to be done. Putting it all together we have FeO. Page 4 of 13 NAMING CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS & WRITING CHEMICAL FORMULAS Type III Binary Compounds Type III binary compounds contain no metal atoms. The naming system for Type III compounds uses prefixes to indicate the number of each atom present. The naming system for this type of compound is found below. Rules for naming Type III binary compounds 1. The first element in the formula is named first, and the full element name is used. 2. The second element is named as though it were an anion: root + ide. 3. Prefixes are used to denote the numbers of atoms present. (See table below) 4. The prefix mono- is never used for naming the first element. When naming Type III binary compounds: prefix + name of first element prefix + root + ide Prefixes 1..........mono 6..........hexa 2..........di 7..........hepta 3..........tri 8..........octa 4..........tetra 9..........nona 5..........penta 10........deca Examples: Name the compound NO2. N is the chemical symbol of nitrogen. Since there is only one nitrogen atom AND it is the first element the prefix mono is not used. O is the chemical symbol of oxygen, whose root is ox. Add the -ide ending to get oxide. There are two oxygen atoms so we also add the prefix di to get dioxide. Put the pieces together to get the name nitrogen dioxide. Name the compound N2O. N is the chemical symbol of nitrogen. Since there are two nitrogen atoms we need to add the prefix di to get dinitrogen. O is the chemical symbol of oxygen, whose root is ox. Add the -ide ending to get oxide. There is only one oxygen atom we add the prefix mono (mono IS used for the second element) to get monoxide. Put the pieces together to get the name dinitrogen monoxide. Write the formula for carbon tetrachloride.