WRITING AND NAMING

CHEMICAL FORMULAS
 STANDARDS
• Predict chemical formulas based on the
number of valence electrons and oxidation
numbers
• Name and write the chemical formulas for
simple ionic and molecular compounds,
including common polyatomic ions.
(standard list of common polyatomic ions
need to be memorized)
 Chemical formula
• Combination of symbols that represent the
composition of a compound.
• Formula represents
– elements involved
– ratio of those elements
 Structural formula
• Shows how atoms are joined
• Shows kind of atoms and the number of
atoms
• used primarily with organic compounds
• example
 Interpreting chemical formulas
• practice
 Monatomic ions
• Ions formed from a single atom
• Ion – charged atom
– Anion – negative ion
– Cation – positive ion
• oxidation number
– Indicates the general distribution of electrons
among the bonded atoms
 Oxidation numbers
• periodic table
• handout - memorize
• roman numeral
– Stock system of nomenclature is used to
distinguish the ion charge
– Ex. Iron can be +2 or +3
• Silver – transition metal but has only +1 –
can be named w/o roman number
 Older naming system

• Older naming system –

– when metal forms has more than 1 common oxidation number,

• The ion with the higher charge has a name ending in ic

• The one with the lower charge has a name ending in ous

• Ex – Fe+3 – ferric

• Fe+2 – ferrous
 Polyatomic ions
• A charged group of covalent covalently
bonded atoms
• Handout
– Make flash cards
Writing chemical formulas
 Naming chemical formulas
• Handout - memorize
• chart
• transition elements
 Molecular formula
• Formulas for compounds that exist as
molecules
 Empirical formula
• The simplest formula
• used to help identify unknown substances
• Molecular formula of a compound is always
written as some whole-number multiple of
the empirical formula
• ionic compounds - always written as
empirical formula
 Writing empirical formula
• Practice problems