The compound
is an ionic compound (metal and nonmetal) and therefore does not require prefixes so
is aluminum chloride.
is a molecular compound (two or more nonmetals), and therefore in its name prefixes indicate the number of each type of atom so
is nitrogen trichloride.
<h3>FURTHER EXPLANATION</h3><h3>Binary Ionic Compound Nomenclature</h3>
- Ionic compounds are compounds made up of metals and nonmetals.
- Metals are elements that readily lose valence electrons and form positively charged ions called cations.
- Nonmetals are atoms that readily gain electrons and form negatively charged ions called anions.
- The electrostatic attraction between these oppositely charged ions pulls and holds them together forming the ionic compound.
- The compound is named based on the name of the cation and anion that it is made of.
- The cation name is simply the name of the metal element plus the word <em>ion</em>.
- The anion name is the first or first two syllables of the name of the nonmetal element plus the suffix <em>-ide.</em>
- Example: KCl
cation name: potassium ion
anion name: chloride
compound name: potassium chloride
<h3>Covalent (Molecular) Compound Nomenclature</h3>
- Molecular compounds are a group of nonmetal elements that are sharing their electrons for stability.
- They are named by using prefixes that correspond to their subscripts (how many atoms of the element is present in the molecule).
- The prefixes include:
mono - 1 hexa - 6
di - 2 hepta - 7
tri - 3 octa - 8
tetra - 4 nona - 9
penta - 5 deca - 10
- The prefix <em>mono-</em> is never written for the first element of a covalent compound but may be used for the second or succeeding elements (e.g. CO is carbon monoxide NOT monocarbon monoxide).
- Example:
no. of carbon atom = 1 (mono-)
no. of oxygen atom = 2 (di-)
name of the compound: carbon dioxide
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Keywords: nomenclature, ionic, molecular