Answer: The chemical formula for barium chloride shows the number of ATOMS of each element in the SMALLEST representative unit of the substance.
Explanation:
The chemical formula of compound are ways in which a chemical substance is being expressed using chemical symbols to show types of atoms and subscripts to indicate the number of atoms of each element. It shows the number of atoms in a single ( smallest) representative unit of the substance. Using the compound BaCl2;
"Ba" represents the abbreviation for the element "Barium" while "Cl2" represents the abbreviation for the element "chloride" with the subscript of two indicating the number of atoms of chlorine.
There are steps to be considered while writing a chemical compound of a substance, they include:
--> write the symbol of all the elements that forms the compound ( Ba and Cl).
--> write the valency of each element. (Ba has 2 valence electrons while Cl has 1 valence electron).
--> exchange the valency of the both elements such that Ba bears valency of 1 and Cl bears valency of 2 electrons.
--> finally, write the valency of second atom as subscript of first and Write valency of first atom as subscript of second. You will achieve BaCl2 as your chemical formula.
