Alloy Nodica

CICT-125
2.6 Molecular and Ionic Compounds contd.
So far, we have learned about monatomic ions (ions made up of only one atom). Polyatomic
ions, too, are plentiful. Molecules are charged atoms bound together. Polyatomic ions like these are
shown in Table 2.5. Oxyanions are polyatomic ions that contain one or more oxygen atoms. These ions
can be of various configurations. The polyatomic ions you need to memorize are the most common
ones. Name, formula, and charge of each one is all important. It will be easier to remember since you'll
use them multiple times.

Some polyatomic ions have names; -ate and -ite are suffixes that designate polyatomic ions that have
different numbers of oxygen atoms. These prefixes describe extra oxygen atoms as opposed to some
with no oxygen atoms (hypo-) and a lower oxygen count (per- and hypo-). Perchlorate is ClO4 −, for
example, while chlorate is ClO3 −. Chlorite is ClO2 −, and hypochlorite is ClO−. Despite that, certain
suffixes and prefixes do not follow any particular order, for example, nitrate is NO3 reenshot − whereas
sulfate is SO4reenshot 2−. This will be discussed further in the following class about terminology. In the
same way that type of magnetic field or number of protons determines if something is a magnet, how
many atoms bond to each other gives the property of something being chemical. Ionic bonds form when
electrons are transferred and ions are created. Electrostatically attractive forces, known as ionic bonds,
link cations and anions together (positively charged ions with negatively charged ions). Covalent bonds
are formed when electrons are “shared” and molecules form. Positively charged nuclei of bonded
atoms, which have electrons orbiting them, are brought closer together by attractive forces between the
nuclei and the electrons. Compounds are categorized by whether their bonds are ionic or covalent in
nature.