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 Chemical Formula Of Common
Compounds
• The chemical formula of a compound is a symbolic representation of its
chemical composition.
• Chemical formulae provide insight into the elements that constitute the
molecules of a compound and also the ratio in which the atoms of these
elements combine to form such molecules.
• For example, the chemical formula of water, which is H2O, suggests that
two hydrogen atoms combine with one oxygen atom to form one molecule
of water.
Importance of Chemical Formulae
•Chemical formulae provide insight into the chemical
composition of a compound.
•They also represent the ratios in which the constituent
elements combine to form the compound.
•The chemical formula of a compound is crucial while
representing it in a chemical equation.
•Chemical formulae can also be employed to represent ions, free
radicals and other chemical species.
 Types of Chemical Formulae

While the term ‘chemical formula’ typically refers to the molecular

formula of a compound (which denotes the total number of atoms of
each constituent element in one molecule of the compound), the
compositions of chemical compounds can be expressed in several
ways, as listed in this subsection.
 Molecular Formula:

The molecular formula provides insight into the

number of elements present in a compound.

In molecular formulae, the elements are denoted by

their respective symbols (as in the periodic table) and
the number of atoms of each element in the molecule
is written in subscript.

For example- the molecular formula for glucose is

C6H12O6.
 Empirical Formula:

The empirical formula of a chemical compound represents

the ratio of the elements present in that compound.
Empirical formulae are usually obtained based on the
analysis of experimental data. The empirical formula for
glucose is CH2O. Empirical Formulae can be derived from
the molecular formulae.
List of CommonChemical
Compound Formula
List of CommonChemical
Compound Formula
List of CommonChemical
Compound Formula
List of CommonChemical
Compound Formula
 ACTIVITY: IDENTIFY THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS and the
NUMBER of ATOMS Present on each element on the given
compounds:

2. Differentiate empirical formula form molecular formula.