Writing Chemical Formulas

LEARNING OUTCOMES
- demonstrate understanding on naming and
writing chemical formulas.
 Binary Compounds- made up of two elements

Two groups of Binary Compounds:

1. Ionic Compounds - made up of cation and an anion. They are
named by giving the name of the cation first, followed by the
name of the anion.

Examples:
NaI - Sodium ioidide
MgCl2 - Magnesium chloride
FeS - Iron (II) sulfide or ferrous sulfide
K2O - Potassium iodide
 2. Molecular compounds-made up of two non-metals.
They are named by giving the name of the first nonmetal and
then that of the second nonmetal modified by the ending -ide.
Molecular compounds are usually gases.
Examples:
HCl - Hydrogen chloride
CO2 - Carbon dioxide
SO3 - Sulfur trioxide
 Ternary compounds- made up of three
elements. The naming of ternary compounds
follows the same rule as that of the binary ionic
compoundsthe name of the cation is given first,
followed by the name of the anion.
Examples:
NaNO3 - Sodium nitrate
BaCrO4 - Barium chromate
K2SO4 - Potassium sulfate
 Acids- yields hydrogen atoms in aqueous
solutions.
a. Binary Acids - composed of hydrogen and another
element, usually a nonmetal. The first part of the
name starts with the prefix hydro - followed by the
name of the element, modified by the ending- ic. The
second part consistss of the word acid. Name=
hydro( root name of element)-ic + acid.
Examples:
HCl - Hydrochloric acid
H2S - hydrosulfuric acid
HI - Hydroiodic acid

2. Ternary Acids- made up of hydrogen and an anion, usually

containg oxygen. The first part of the name consists of the root
word of the name of the element, modified by the ending- ic.
The second part consists of the word acid. If there is another
acid with the same atoms, the suffix-ous is used to denote the
one with less number of atoms. Name=(root name of element) -
ic (or-ous) + acid
Examples:
HNO3 - Nitric acid
HNO2 - Nitrous acid
H2SO4 - Sulfuric acid
H2SO3 - Sulfurous acid
H3PO4 - Phosphoric acid